Dumbledore Kidnapped, Reinforcements Called!
by Soleara
Summary: Kurama, Yusuke, and Hiei get letters to Hogwarts. It turns out, that's their new assignment! But wait, there's more: Kagome, InuYasha, and Sesshoumaru go with them! Language, violence. Please review nicely, but if you don't, please be constructive?
1. They Get Their Letters

Hey, all of you who have read this story so far, please forgive me! I didn't realize that the first chapter uploaded funny, so I'm just now getting around to fix it.

Soleara

Yusuke was walking down the street. He saw Hiei running toward him. He was more like a blur than a person, but you know what I mean. Kurama was running after him waving an owl and a letter. Kurama was dressed in his white uniform, the one that is trimmed in purple. Hiei was in his normal all black. Yusuke was doing a sweatdrop. Then Hiei stopped, and made a statement, "Detective, have you got your letter yet?" Then Yusuke, of course, yelled, "No, what the hell are you talking about!" Hiei just said his customary "Hn." Then Kurama pointed at something in the sky. Yusuke saw a bird flying toward him. It dropped something on his head. Yusuke looked up and yelled, "Oh my god, what the hell just hit me! If that bird crapped on me I'm gonna be pissed!" Kurama and Hiei sweatdropped at Yusuke's outburst, and Yusuke picked the letter up off of his head and opened it. He started reading it aloud. This is what it said:

Yusuke Urameshi

On the Street,

Tokyo, Japan

Dear Mr. Urameshi,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Pick up date is September 1 at King's Cross Station in London at Platform 9 ¾. Your ticket, schedule, and supply list are enclosed. Please read them.

Sincerely Yours,

Deputy Headmistress

Minerva McGonagall

P.S. Koenma needs to talk to you.

Yusuke looks up and says, "What the hell is all this they're talkin' about, huh?" "Well if you knew anything you would know," Hiei retorted. Kurama turned to him and admonished him, "That's not very nice Hiei," then turned to Yusuke and said, "Koenma wants to see us. We're supposed to go to the front of your school and Botan will meet us there. She is going to take us to Koenma." So as they were walking to the school, Yusuke was still grumbling about how bad his head hurt from the knock of the letter. Hiei said, "Suck it up, Detective, you've been hurt worse," 'cause he's so unsympathetic, like the fire demon we all know and love. Kurama was just walking silently, thinking and conversing with his Yoko half about the suspiciousness of the situation. (Well, actually Yoko was the one saying that it was all suspicious, but then he's the master thief, so it makes a little sense.) They got to the school and Botan was standing there in her pants and pink and blue striped shirt. She pulled out her oar and stated, "Alright, everyone on the oar!" Yusuke sat behind her and then was Kurama. Hiei was just sitting on the back of it, his entire stance screaming "Why am I doing this, I don't want to be doing this, stupid baby Koenma." They were enclosed in this bluish bubble and then, the next thing they knew, Botan yelled out, "Everybody off, we're here!"

They got off the oar and walked up to the door. Botan pressed the button and yelled, "Koenma sir, it's Botan, I'm back and I've brought the three of them!" "Bring 'em in!" Koenma yelled back on the intercom. Botan replied, "Yes sir!" She opened the door and they all walked in; they saw Koenma in his teenage form standing there. They were all really shocked, 'cause he doesn't normally walk around in his teenage form at the office. He said, "I needed to be in this form, because this is a matter of utmost importance, and I need to look impressive." They were ushered into the room where Koenma did all of his paperwork. Koenma pulled one file out, and looks down at it. He stated, "This is a matter of grave importance. It is really, really bad." Hiei said, "Just get on with it, who is it we have to kill?" Kurama agreed, "Yes, I was wondering what this was about as well." Yusuke was just sitting there still, complaining to all who could hear about how bad his head hurt from the letter. Koenma finally said, "Fine, I'll tell you, but you must promise to be quiet until I'm finished." Hiei didn't say anything, because he didn't think that it merited an answer. Kurama nodded and replied, "Yes, of course." Yusuke, obviously, was still muttering to himself. Kurama elbowed him, and Yusuke started and said, "Yeah, whatever, I agree with Kurama." Then Koenma began, "The headmaster of the school that you three have been invited to has been kidnapped by Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort happens to be this evil human, who escaped the ferry girls 15 years ago. He is gathering followers, and somehow met up with Karasu's spirit on its way to limbo. After the Dark Tournament, they managed to get Karasu's body back, so he is back among the living." At this point, Kurama turned pale, and started to look a little sick. Hiei started growling slightly. Koenma looked up, then looked back down and continued, "Not only that, but they seem to have found this other demon, whose name is Naraku. He is extremely evil. He is actually a half demon, and he is collecting the shards of the Shikon Jewel to become more powerful—" At this point, Yusuke jumped up and yelled, "What the hell is a Shikon Jewel, and why are we still talking? Why can't we go kick ass right now!" Koenma looked at Yusuke and snapped, "I'm getting to that Yusuke, so would you please be quiet?" Koenma continued, "The Shikon Jewel is a jewel that the priestesses protected, hundreds of years ago. It was made from the souls of a demon and a priestess named Midoriko. If a demon gets a hold of it, they are made exponentially stronger." After Koenma said this, Hiei's eyes started to gleam. Koenma looked at him and stated flatly, "If you even so much as think about going after the jewel, I will have you taken off of probation, put in irons and have you thrown immediately into Reikai jail. Hiei lost the gleam in his eye, and instead started glaring at Koenma like he wanted to kill him. (Like we didn't know that already!) Koenma said, "If there are no more interruptions, I will continue. Naraku, Karasu, and Voldemort kidnapped Dumbledore, like I said. Dumbledore was the one person that Voldemort was afraid of. However, now that Dumbledore is in their care, Voldemort has nothing to fear, so he will start moving as soon as possible. He has already placed Karasu as the headmaster of the school that you three will be attending." When he said that, Kurama fainted.

"I have invited some allies, who may be of some service to you, I'm not sure. Okay, Botan, Ayame, show them in." Five people walk in, two of which were familiar to the Spirit Detectives; the rest were not. One was a girl, about 5'7" tall with long black hair, dressed in a Japanese school outfit, with a bow and arrows strapped to her back. "This is Kagome Higurashi. She is the reincarnation of a powerful priestess named Kikyo. She will be undercover as a student and rendering assistance as needed." Next to her was a boy, about the same height. He looked about 18 years old. He was wearing a red kimono. He had extremely white hair and doggy ears. Koenma introduced him, saying, "This is InuYasha. He is a half-demon and will also be undercover as a student, helping Kagome." The third figure was in the shadow, but stepped out at the end of that speech. He was taller than the boy by about 2 ½ inches. He looked like everything going on in the room was boring him half to death. He didn't have doggy ears, but his ears were really pointed. He had four marks on his pale cheeks, as well as a crescent moon mark on his forehead. When he opened his mouth to introduce himself, you could see fangs. "I am Lord Sesshoumaru." (Known to all of us fangirls as LORD FLUFFY!) Everybody around just scooted away from him. He had a slightly homicidal look in his eyes. Hiei, 'cause he was bored, decided to use his Jagan to read Sesshoumaru's mind. He opened Sesshoumaru's mind to himself, and started looking around for something interesting. When he found something amusing, he started smirking outwardly and laughing inwardly. Kurama was starting to wake up, and he could hear Hiei's inner laughter, able to hear it because Kurama had somebody else in his head, so he knew how to get into other people's heads. He wanted to know what Hiei was laughing about. Hiei relayed it telepathically. It was Lord Sesshoumaru's thoughts: Stupid InuYasha, I should have killed him when he was a child. Why did Koenma have to send for me? I don't want to work with any of these people. I am Lord Sesshoumaru, I work alone. When Hiei finished, Kurama had to turn around to keep from laughing himself. Then Koenma said, "Sesshoumaru will be the school's Potions teacher while you are there. He is in that post because we needed a person in an administrative position to both listen in the teachers meetings and to keep an eye on Karasu." Kurama fainted again. Sesshoumaru said, "You need to address me as Lord, instead of Professor. I deserve the proper respect." The general response was a collective "Whatever," because they were concentrating on moving unobtrusively away from him. Yusuke jumped out of his seat and started yelling his head off, "Why do you get to be called Lord, I mean-," Koenma interrupted him and said, "Shut up Yusuke, we don't need to hear you." Then he continued the briefing. "InuYasha and Sesshoumaru are half-brothers, but they hate each other, so you must never refer to them as brothers." This statement was said aside to Hiei and the slowly waking Kurama. Koenma instructed Hiei to relay the message to Yusuke via telepathy. Hiei said his trademark "Hn" and did so. Koenma got back in his chair and said, "Okay, you six better head off. You need to get on Botan's and Ayame's oars so they can take you the tavern called the Leaky Cauldron, in London, where you will be lodged until September 1. The train will pick you up on Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross Station. Good Bye!" And with that, Koenma pressed a button and they were all ejected out of the facility straight onto the oars that they were designated. They were flown off into the Reikai night. Koenma turned back into his toddler form and muttered, "This is not good, not good at all. I cannot express how bad this is. Karasu, Naraku, Voldemort, all working together? This spells trouble for all of Spirit World, Human World, and Demon World."


	2. Welcome to the Wizarding World, Guys!

"So I finally find out what this 'school' of yours is like, Kagome," said InuYasha, "but it doesn't sound like what you said it was." "That's because it isn't. This is a magic school, not a normal school. Speaking of going to school, how are we supposed to disguise your ears?" Kagome wondered aloud. "I mean, it's not like they are exactly unnoticeable. I guess you'll just have to wear your school hat the whole time you're at this Hogwarts place." "I have to wear the hat! I'd rather just have everybody see them than to wear a hat!" InuYasha yelled. "Be quiet. It doesn't matter. We will be found out, no matter what we do, so disguising InuYasha's ears is not an issue," said Sesshoumaru, with an air of disdain. "What makes you so sure we'll mess up!" snapped Kagome, turning around to look at him. "Simple. InuYasha's part of it. Also, Yusuke looks about as dumb. The only difference between you two is that I could tell that he was more powerful than I. You, however, are stupid and weak. THAT is why we will be found out," Sesshoumaru replied. Turning back around to face InuYasha, Kagome said in a hushed voice, "He really gets on my nerves, he's so superior sounding!"

On the other oar, Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei were also discussing Hogwarts. "I can't believe pacifier breath is sending us to school!" Yusuke yelled, making Kurama wince as his ears were temporarily deafened. "Agreed. I'm not exactly happy about this mission either, Detective, but I can't do anything about it. For you it is merely an inconvenience, but for Kurama, it is a source of terror and fear. We are actually going to the place where Karasu is at. How do you think he feels right now?" Hiei said, staring at Yusuke intensely.

"Wow Hiei, that's the most you've ever said at once," said Yusuke, "and I get your point. I'll shut up about it for now."

"I don't intend to be a burden. The best thing to do right now would be to plan about what we'll do when we get there. So go ahead, I'll be fine," Kurama said with a wry smile.

"Okay then, we get there, we kill Karasu, we get one of the teachers to make everyone forget about us, we leave. Agreed?" Yusuke asked.

"Little problem, Detective, because one of the reasons we are going is to find out how much these 'wizards' know about demons. I suppose you didn't hear that part?" Hiei said, with a wide smirk.

"Would that have been before Yusuke stopped complaining, or after he started yelling? I believe I remember something about that, but I might be mistaken because Shuuichi was out cold," Kurama said in Youko's voice.

"Why is the Youko talking?" Yusuke asked, wanting to know what was going on.

"Isn't it obvious?" Hiei asked, "tomorrow night is the full moon."

"Yes, Shuuichi is having trouble controlling me. Did I hear someone mention a bank that is supposed to be impenetrable? I believe they were mistaken, because I stole a poisoned mirror from one of the vaults a long time ago. It was run by goblins, as far as I remember," Youko said, relieving the day of the theft, "and I highly doubt they would want me there again." Suddenly his voice changed back to Shuuichi's. "Where are you two getting your supply and tuition money from? I have a vault, but I don't remember either of you mentioning having any vaults," Shuuichi said, then laughed, in Youko's voice again.

"I have a vault, courtesy of a goblin that I met on my foray through Human World. He gave me a large vault, with mountains of gold," Hiei said, though without his usual smirk.

"I guess I'm the only one without a vault, then. Oh well, pacifier breath gave me a key to a vault that he said was his, so I should be fine. What about the newbies?" Yusuke asked, looking behind them at the other oar. Sesshoumaru noticed him looking, and jumped from where he was sitting to a spot next to Kurama.

"Why are you looking at me? Never mind, we're here," he said, gazing at a spot on the ground.

"What, you can see all the way down there!" Yusuke half asked, half yelled.

"What, you can't?" Youko asked, smirking way too much like Hiei to be serious.

"Okay boys, I'm to let you off right here! Get ready to land, and, there! Here we are, there's the Leaky Cauldron, and I'm gone!" Botan said all of this in a rush and disappeared. Kurama noticed InuYasha and Kagome disembarking their oar in the same manner; only Ayame wasn't talking to them. They walked into the pub in pairs. First were Hiei and Kurama, who looked at the surroundings with dislike. It was dirty, and almost too dark to read by. When they got to the counter, they saw Yusuke walking in with Sesshoumaru, and looking tired. Sesshoumaru was staring at the person behind the counter with such open contempt it was almost as if it was solid. They got to the counter and watched with Kurama and Hiei as InuYasha and Kagome walked in. InuYasha was not bothering to hide his ears, and was getting many stares from people on the street. Kagome was doing her best to look normal next to him, but was not helped by the fact that she was wearing a glowing necklace. They reached the counter, and Kurama asked Tom where their rooms were. He did it in Shuuichi's voice, because Youko was bored and wanted to start exploring immediately and so didn't care about the rooms.

"Upstairs, to the left. Your rooms are all on the same side; one room for each person. You'll be wanting breakfast, then, before you go up? Or would you prefer to sleep, because I know it takes a long time to get here from Japan," Tom said, but said no more at the look he got from Sesshoumaru.

"I'm going shopping for school supplies before I go to bed, is anyone coming with me?" Kurama asked.

"I'll come," Yusuke said, but I'm eating first." Sesshoumaru nodded, and Hiei did likewise; InuYasha, however, said, "I need to sleep. I haven't slept in weeks," and went up the stairs. It did indeed look like he needed sleep, as when he stepped on the final step, he missed and fell flat on his face.

"While InuYasha makes a spectacle of himself, I'll go with you guys, but I'm really hungry, so let's do what Yusuke said and eat first," Kagome answered Kurama.

They were served breakfast, which consisted of scrambled eggs, bagels with strawberry cream cheese, French toast, bacon, watermelon, and fresh pineapple. To drink, they each had something different. Yusuke had Mountain Dew, Kurama had Pepsi, Hiei had coffee, Sesshoumaru drank (of all things) sparkling grape juice, and Kagome sipped a cup of hot chocolate. "This is what I call a good breakfast!" Yusuke said, digging in to the scrambled eggs. Kagome, who was sitting next to him, couldn't answer him because she was shoveling watermelon into her mouth as fast as she could. When Hiei looked disgustedly at her, she told him, "What? I haven't eaten for three days!" Sesshoumaru sat there for the longest time, just looking at the food, but finally he picked a piece of pineapple and started eating it. Kurama had been eating at a steady pace, but he was only eating the fruit.

"Hey, um, guys, do you think they have anything else to eat?" asked Kagome, looking at Hiei, "It's just that, I don't think he's eating anything." "Hn," Hiei just said. Tom came out from behind the counter and, to his stupidity, actually walked up to Hiei and asked him, "What would you like to eat, my good sir?" "Mushrooms and bread with olive oil to dip it in," Hiei told him. Then everyone heard a crash, and automatically looked up to the top of the stairs.

InuYasha was at the top of the steps, and had caused the noise by pushing a mean looking witch out of his way. This normally wouldn't have caused a crash, except that in this instance the woman's wand fell and exploded. InuYasha was completely covered in soot, and looked angry enough to kill something. Hiei thought this would be the perfect opportunity to find out if the half-dog was as amusing to bait as the absent idiot.

"Just say 'excuse me'. Of course, if it's beyond your thought capacity to say something as complex as a two word sentence, then I suppose it isn't your fault," he said to the disgruntled half-dog.

"Why don't you say that to my face, you little-," InuYasha snapped, but stopped when Kagome yelled loudly, "SIT!"

"Whoa, wish I could do that to Keiko when she made me mad," Yusuke laughed.

"Want me to tell her that?" asked Hiei wickedly. "No, uh, never mind, forget I said it," Yusuke said hurriedly.

"I don't forget anything," Hiei said, with a smirk.

"If everyone is done eating, I would like to get going on shopping for school supplies," Kurama said, standing up. Yusuke stood up hurriedly, knocking over his chair in the process, and said, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" There were nods of agreement all around the table, and everyone else stood up as well, only they did it rather more gracefully than Yusuke. Kurama looked at the supply list, and read it aloud to the group, "We each need a wand, a set of robes, a set of textbooks, a cauldron, and potion ingredients. A pet is optional." The large group filed out of the back entrance of the Leaky Cauldron, following Kurama who appeared to know where he was going.

"Um, Kurama? No offense, but I think you took us to a dead end," Yusuke said tentatively.

"Are you blind? It is a barrier illusion, idiot," Hiei said in a smug voice.

"Hiei, not everyone can see a barrier illusion. Humans, half-demons other than myself, and Ma-zoku can't see them. It's a factor of the magic. Human blood cannot see magic," Kurama answered him, cutting Yusuke off before he could retort. Kurama tapped the wall with his rose, (none had a wand yet,) and the wall opened to reveal a semi-crowded street. At the end of the street, there was a large building, with embossed gold letters spelling out the word "Gringotts".

"So there is the 'impenetrable' bank. Hn, it's so little of a challenge even the substitute idiot could rob it. There aren't even any wards against demons!" Hiei snorted derisively.

"Who are you calling an idiot? I'm twice the brain that you are," InuYasha started yelling, but just as he was getting warmed up, Kagome said, "Sit boy!" and he fell into the ground. Sesshoumaru took in the sights without speaking, contemplating the group. They walked unhurriedly toward the bank. When they arrived, Kurama turned around and asked the three unknown quantities the question the Spirit Detective team had all been wondering, "Do any of you have vaults?"

"Yes, we have a vault, number 1652. It was InuTaisho's. InuYasha, Kagome, and I are all drawing our money from this vault," Sesshoumaru answered for them. "All right, let's go," Kurama said, and stepped over the threshold of the wizarding bank. A goblin inside walked over to them. "Do you all have keys?" it asked in a nasal voice. "Yes, I have vault 160752, Yusuke has vault, um, 16605247, Hiei has vault 789052, and Sesshoumaru, Kagome, and InuYasha all share vault 1652. We would like to finish as soon as possible, if you can," Kurama answered it, politely. The goblin looked frightened and asked in a small, rather tinny voice, "Might you be accessing the Youko's vault? And the legendary Jaganshi's?" "That is no concern of yours, goblin, so please do not detain us further," Sesshoumaru stated, looking homicidal again. The goblin led them to an economy size cart, large enough for them all. They stepped inside and got situated, and the cart was off. The first stop was vault 1652, the newcomers' vault. The goblin hopped out of the cart and asked Sesshoumaru for the key. The goblin inserted the key into the lock, and opened the door. Mountains of gold, silver, and copper were lying strewn in piles about the room. InuYasha and Kagome ran inside, and filled their packs to the brim with gold and silver. "You'll be wanting some Knuts, that you will," said the goblin, obviously hoping to get on the Jaganshi's good side by being helpful. "Please tell us the money system. We are new here," Kurama asked the goblin, waiting for an answer. "Twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, seventeen Sickles to a Galleon, not hard," said the frightened goblin. Sesshoumaru had been wandering through the piles of money during this exchange, and now filled his pack with the money as well. "We're done here!" Kagome said excitedly. (She had never had this much money at once.) The three from the past and the goblin vaulted (excuse the pun) back into the cart, which took off almost at once. The next vault they stopped at was vault 160752, the vault of the Bandit himself. The goblin lighted from the cart, followed closely by Kurama. The goblin started to ask for the key, then appeared as if remembering something. "What's the holdup!" asked InuYasha and Yusuke in unison. "It has been told to every goblin working here that this vault is not to be touched by any other than the Youko himself," the goblin said nervously. "Not to worry. I shall have no problem," Kurama said, but in the voice of the Spirit Fox. He walked to the door and inserted the key. The door opened and what appeared to be an empty room was revealed to the onlookers. Kurama stepped forward and touched his hand to the wall. All of a sudden, the vault became full of gold, silver, and various artifacts that did not look like they had been touched for centuries. "Whoa, Kurama! You're loaded!" exclaimed Yusuke, laughing. "Hurry up fox, stop being such a showoff and get done," Hiei said in an ironic tone. Everyone knew the fox couldn't resist showing off. Kurama sauntered through the piles of gold and things, picking gold and silver up into his bag. He also picked up a tarnished silver mirror. As Kurama walked back toward the cart, he received several questioning looks at his actions. "It's a scrying mirror," he said, by way of explanation. The cart started again, at a sign from the goblin. It arrived at vault 789052, the vault of the Jaganshi. The goblin didn't even bother to get out of the cart; Hiei was already at the door and using the key. The door opened with a loud creak, and revealed that Hiei wasn't kidding when he said he had mountains of gold. He walked into the rather large room and grabbed a handful of coins and stuffed them in his pockets and scarf. He flitted back into the cart and it was off before anyone could ask him anything about his choice of conveyance. It stopped again, after a much longer interval, in front of vault #16605247 and surprised everyone. There were no seat belts in it, so those that weren't holding on, namely Kagome, Yusuke, and InuYasha, flew up out of the seats and hit their heads on the side of the cart. Yusuke stood up, rubbing his head, and stepped out of the cart. He walked toward the vault door, and the goblin followed him. "I need the key to open this vault, good sir. Only Gringotts goblins may open this one; it's special. May I have the key?" the goblin asked, politely as he could. Yusuke handed it over, and the door disappeared as the goblin inserted the key. The large room was literally filled to the brim with coins. Large coins, small coins, gold coins, silver coins, all possible coins you could think of were represented by at least one in this vault. Yusuke took his pack and dipped it into the coins, and pulled it out full. He walked out of the room looking slightly thunderstruck. He returned to the cart, and it zoomed up towards the surface. As it went, the group watched outside of it, and Kurama counted a dragon, two griffins, three hippogriffs, and a cockatrice guarding various vaults. Hiei was documenting escape routes, in case they needed a quick getaway. Sesshoumaru was filing all the information away in his mind, in case he required it. InuYasha and Yusuke were enjoying the ride, screaming like maniacs. Kagome looked like she would be sick all over InuYasha, so he moved over to allow her to put her face over the side. They heard her retch, and her face returned to them, looking a lot less pale. "I don't like roller coasters," she said, with a faint smile. The cart reached where they had started, and the goblin started ushering them out of it. "Sirs? If you would be so kind as to remember to tell the honorable Lord Koenma that Gringotts has not yet been breached, I would greatly appreciate it. Tell him the message comes from Gangplank," the goblin, called Gangplank, said. "Will do, little dude!" shouted Yusuke as they departed. "That was interesting, now, where do we start?" asked Kurama when they left the bank. "Let's start with the wands!" Yusuke, who had been looking forward to this part, said with enthusiasm. "I want to go to Madame Malkin's Robe Shoppe," Kagome said, with a look at InuYasha. "I'm going with Kagome," he said. "I don't really care where we go, so let's just leave here already," Hiei remarked, "I'll go with Kurama to the wand shop." "I think I'll leave little brother with his girlfriend," Sesshoumaru said, not surprisingly. They split up, two going one way and the rest going in the other direction. The pair going to the robe shop, InuYasha and Kagome, kept stopping to look at the items in the windows. InuYasha was particularly interested in the shop called Quality Quidditch Supplies. They had a new broom, the Defixis Velocity. "I heard it goes from naught to one hundred and twenty in under three seconds!" they heard a teenage boy behind them say. They turned around and saw a red haired boy goggling at the broomstick in the window. "See Hermione, I told you the new broom was coming out today!" he continued, speaking to a girl with brown hair that was next to him. Kagome had already closed the gap to the girl, and said, "Hello! We're new here, is there any particular shop we should visit?" "If you're new at school, you'll need to go to Flourish and Blotts, Madame Malkin's, Ollivander's," the girl began, but was interrupted by the red haired boy. "Oh, for heaven's sake, Hermione, let them have some fun their first time in Diagon Alley!" he said, and continued, "You'll want to visit Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, while you're here." He pointed to a building down the street. "Um, not to be rude or anything, but what is with his ears?" another boy, with raven black hair and green eyes, said, pointing to them. "I'm a de—" InuYasha started, but was cut off by Kagome who said loudly, "He drank an experimental potion when he was little, and they've been there ever since." "And I thought I had bad luck with magic!" the red haired boy exclaimed. "Oh, honestly Ron, you haven't had any trouble with magic since you got your new wand!" Hermione snapped at him, with a frustrated look at him. "Where are you from, then, if you're new here? You don't look eleven, so you're not first years," the black haired boy asked, looking a bit confused. "We're from Japan, and neither us no the others with us are near eleven!" InuYasha answered him, vehemently. "What's your name, anyway? I've got the other two's," he asked the black haired boy. "What, you don't recognize me? I'm Harry Potter," the black haired boy said, sounding surprised. "Are we supposed to recognize someone we've never seen?" InuYasha asked, skeptically. "It's nothing, don't worry about it," Harry said, looking a little relieved. "How can you not know of Harry Potter? He's in practically every book about Dark wizards; he beat the most powerful Dark wizard in a century when he was a baby!" Hermione said, scandalized. "Oh, you mean Voldemort? Don't worry about him, we've seen worse," Kagome said offhandedly, "who you should be afraid of is Hogwarts' new headmaster's friend, Naraku. He's evil, and he just won't die!" "Naraku? Who's he?" Hermione asked, worried what someone who was worse than Voldemort was like. "Hope you never find out. When we find him, I'm gonna kill him," said InuYasha with a lot of feeling. "Well, see you at school!" said Ron, slightly unnerved by someone who talked about killing that easily. They disappeared into the crowd quickly. "I don't think you should have mentioned killing Naraku. They don't seem the type to not care whether someone lives or dies," Kagome told InuYasha. "Oh well! Anyway, aren't we supposed to be getting some kind of clothes? Not that I want to or anything," InuYasha said in reply, looking surprised at his own words. They walked toward Madame Malkin's, and as they walked, they saw a pale boy with a pointed face. He was talking to another two boys, both of which looked like overgrown gorillas. InuYasha heard him say, "Our fathers are out, and they have gotten their money back. Now the Dark Lord can return to power!" They passed him and walked into the unimpressive shop. It was full of fabric, and Kagome saw a pair of needles clicking back and forth with no visible means of movement. They were fitted for their robes; Kagome picked robes of white and red, and InuYasha took robes of the same shade of red as his kimono. They also picked out robes for the rest of their group; for Sesshoumaru, they had a set of silver and midnight blue robes, for Kurama, there were robes of emerald green and white, for Yusuke there were three robes of different shades of green: bottle, sea, and neon, and Hiei got five sets of black robes, all different shades of black. They left the shop heavily laden with boxes and walked toward the recommended joke shop. They walked into the store named Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and were immediately accosted by identical twin red haired boys. "I'm George," said the one on the left. "And I'm Fred," the one on the right continued. "We're the owners of this humble shop," the one called George said, and was followed by a, "and we're always looking for new customers!" the one called Fred finished. "We aren't really interested in prank products, we just had you recommended by another red haired boy. Was he by any chance your brother?" Kagome asked. "I think you ran into our favorite," George started, "little brother slash first rate advertiser," Fred finished for him. "Do you guys do this a lot?" InuYasha asked them. "Do what?" the twins wondered innocently. "Finish each others sentences. It's getting on my nerves!" "We're annoying you? No one has ever told us that before," George said, with a look at Fred. "To answer your question, no, we don't normally do this. You just looked interesting enough to bother, with those ears of yours," Fred answered for them. "His ears aren't that interesting, we'll be sure to recommend you to our friends!" Kagome told them as they exited the shop.


	3. Wand Time for You Four

Meanwhile, Kurama, Hiei, Sesshoumaru, and Yusuke were walking into the wand shop. Kurama stiffened as he entered the building; there was a strange aura about the place. Yusuke didn't seem to notice anything, but he could ignore anything that made him uncomfortable; it was a talent of his. Hiei stiffened as well, however, he did so less noticeably. Sesshoumaru looked unaffected; it could be he really didn't notice anything, though Kurama and Hiei strongly doubted that was the case. All of a sudden, an old man with strange gray eyes appeared as if out of nowhere. "Here to get wands, eh? You look like a tricky crowd, could be all of you will need custom wands, but let's see first, shall we? Who's first?" the old man, who could only be the Mr. Ollivander of the shop. "He's first," Yusuke said, kicking Hiei forward. "Which is your wand arm?" Ollivander asked briskly, while Hiei glared at Yusuke. "Right arm," Hiei said tersely. A tape measure started circling him, while Ollivander ran from shelf to shelf, finally finding what he was looking for. "Yew, Dragon heart string core, very good for defensive magic. Try this one!" he said excitedly, handing the wand to Hiei. Hiei picked it up and waved it, staring incredulously at it. As he did so, an image of a dragon appeared and knocked over several shelves. "That one is most certainly not yours!" Ollivander said squeakily, yanking it away from Hiei. "Wave this one," Hiei was told, and was handed another wand. "Oak, unicorn tail hair, very good for charms as well as transfiguration," Ollivander said. Hiei lifted it up, and the dragon reappeared, but before it could do further damage, the wand was snatched away from him. "Alright, none of these wands could possibly be suitable for that dragon of yours, any suggestions of materials?" Ollivander asked the others. "Hiroseki core and this wood," Kurama said, handing him a piece of wood. "Hiroseki! Where would we get one of those!" Ollivander exclaimed. Yusuke pinched Hiei on the skin just under his ear, where the pressure point was. A single, small tear escaped Hiei's eye before he closed it and cut off a piece of Yusuke's hair with his katana. "I will get you for that," Hiei said firmly, before picking up the gem on the floor. "Will this do?" he asked impatiently. "This will do nicely, now let's see here, cut a piece here, put the gem there, put the piece back on, and Attach!" Ollivander muttered, and the piece of wood became a stick, almost the length of Hiei's arm. "Here you go, who's next?" he said, handing the stick to Hiei. "My turn now old man!" Yusuke said with enthusiasm, and stepped forward. "I'm a righty too, and PUU!" Yusuke said loudly. A blue penguin thing appeared in midair in front of him. "Hey Puu, I need one of your feathers," Yusuke said, and a feather fell into his hand. He handed it to the semi-stunned wand maker with a grin. Ollivander took it, and produced a length of blue wood. "Interesting combination, but it should work, yes, I think it will," Ollivander was muttering, and said, "Attach!" loudly again. This stick turned into a wand, like the last. Yusuke grabbed it, and blue light filled the room for a second before receding into the wand. "Cool," he said, sounding impressed. "I'll go next, if you don't mind," soft-spoken Kurama asked. "I will make my own wand, with you to supervise, do you mind?" Ollivander shook his head, and said, "I can't let you do that, it is unsafe. Try this one." He handed Kurama a wand, who took it with a look of incredulity. The wand suddenly turned into a seed, and a hair fell to the floor. "Okay, try this one." He was handed another wand, which turned into a seed as well. This time, a feather fell to the floor. "I think you better listen to Kurama on this one, old man," Yusuke said, laughing at the fate of the sticks. "I think you made the fox mad." "Alright, fine, make your own," Ollivander said finally, looking upset. Kurama reached both hands into his hair and pulled out a rose and a silver hair. He put the rose and hair together, said "Attach" in the same tone of voice as Ollivander, and waited. The hair melted into the rose, and the flower of the rose melted into a pattern on the outside of the wand. The room went dark, and something howled, far away. The lights then returned to normal. "I'm done," he said unnecessarily. Ollivander was staring at him amazedly, and shook his head as if to clear it. "If you are who I think you are, and that hair is whose I think it is, then you should never let another attempt to perform a spell with it. The result would be a gigantic explosion," Ollivander said to him. "Now then, you in the back, it's your turn," Ollivander said, pointing at Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru walked forward, and raised his right arm for measurement. "I won't even try to find one for you. I need one of your teeth," Ollivander stated, advancing on Sesshoumaru with a pair of pliers. He pulled one of the teeth, and took out a piece of purple wood. He put them next to each other, and said, "Attach." The wand was made, and he handed it to Sesshoumaru. As he took it, Sesshoumaru's eyes turned red for a moment. The sword at his side pulsed, and his eyes returned to normal. "I think we're leaving," Yusuke started to say unnecessarily, as Hiei and Kurama were already out the door, with Sesshoumaru on their heels. Puu had disappeared. "There is two more coming, bye old man," Yusuke said as he left. When they left the wand shop, Yusuke saw a sign for a magical pet shop. "Let's get pets next," he said to Kurama as they walked. "Why do you want to go there? You already have the blue fur ball," Kurama said, in Youko's voice. "It's alright if I want to look, isn't it? Sheesh," Yusuke yelled. Sesshoumaru was already walking into the pet store, his hair streaming in the slight breeze. Kurama followed him, looking slightly hungry at the thought of small animals. Hiei watched them enter the store, looking a little curious at the kinds of pets there were in the store. He could sense strange energy coming from inside the pet store. Yusuke followed them in, calling Puu as he did so. He carried Puu into the store, just for the sake of seeing the reactions of the people inside. When they all arrived inside the store, a clerk walked up and said, "Welcome to the Magical Menagerie, would you like help finding a particular animal?" "Do you happen to have any silver foxes?" Kurama asked; the others looked at him, because the voice was definitely Youko's, and saw that Kurama's eyes were becoming gold and he had several silver strands in his hair. Just as he finished his query, a blue blur raced by in front of him. He grabbed it and saw a blue fox, which was rarer than the mortal silver variety. He said, "I changed my mind, I'll take this one. How much for it?" The woman following the fox said, "That little demon! You can have him for free! Just take him off my hands, please!" Kurama, looking pleased, set the little blue fox on his shoulders, draping it around his neck. It looked happy laying there, so the woman walked away looking relieved. "You're no demon, but you are really smart, choosing me over some idiot human who doesn't know how to care for a fox," Kurama said to his new adornment, and walked over to watch the others pick out their animal. Hiei was looking at a section of animals that had a sign that said "Danger, fire hazard". Hiei picked up a turtle with jewels on its back, and said to the clerk, "I'll take this." All of a sudden the turtle made a noise like it was spitting, and fire spewed out of its mouth onto Hiei. It didn't bother him; he just kept staring at the clerk. "That there is a miniature fire crab. They are just as dangerous as the full size, but they make better pets," the clerk said, holding out his hand, "That will be twenty five Galleons." Hiei pulled a pile of gold out of his scarf and handed it to the clerk. He set the fire crab on his shoulder, but it started climbing onto his hair. On its way, it bit a hole through Hiei's ear, and Hiei finally just picked it up and set it on the top of his hair. Kurama was standing there, laughing at the sight of Hiei with a turtle in his hair. He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Hiei. It was a gold earring. "For your new piercing." Yusuke was over standing by Sesshoumaru, seemingly attempting conversation. Sesshoumaru was looking at the dogs, but didn't find one to suit him. "Don't you have anything bigger than this?" he asked the clerk, sounding quite annoyed. He was looking homicidal once more, and the clerk answered hastily, "Yes! We just got a new shipment today, would you like a hippogriff?" He led Sesshoumaru to the paddock behind the shop. There were four hippogriffs there, all extremely beautiful to behold. One, the one Sesshoumaru picked, had midnight black feathers and white hindquarters. The others both had red feathers, but one had gray hindquarters and the other had black hindquarters. Sesshoumaru stared at the hippogriff he had chosen, which made a noise. "His name is Gemini," Sesshoumaru said, and walked towards the outside front of the store, with Gemini following. Yusuke, still inside, had bought a puffskein, just for the heck of it, and was paying for it. Kurama walked out the door, closely followed by Hiei. Hiei's turtle was now spitting fire at anybody who tried to come close to his chosen perch. Yusuke finished paying, and exited the store. "Next thing we have to buy is schoolbooks, right?" Yusuke asked Kurama, as they were standing outside. "The store is right over there, but we also need potion ingredients and cauldrons. We also need to find the other two and have them go to Ollivander's," Kurama replied. They walked into the store, which was called Flourish and Blotts, and found InuYasha and Kagome inside already. InuYasha was so heavily piled with boxes that he couldn't see anything, and was running into walls left and right. "Oh, hi guys!" Kagome said, brightly. "We already got you guys robes and collapsible cauldrons!" Kurama was looking around at the various books strewn about the place, and did not answer her. Yusuke, however, said, "Thanks, that leaves books and potion ingredients." Hiei wasn't listening either; he had just found a book of legends, and was smirking at something he found inside. He showed it to Kurama, who laughed out loud and handed it to Yusuke. It was a badly drawn picture of Youko Kurama. Next to it was the caption: Youko, Bandit of legend, most likely never existed; most likely several other bandits decided to make up the name in order to inspire fear. As we know, there are no such things as Spirit Foxes, so this is by far the most plausible explanation. Yusuke found this so funny, that he laughed so hard that he knocked over a shelf, which happened to be right next to the pale blond boy that InuYasha and Kagome had noticed on their earlier trek across Diagon Alley. "Watch what you're doing, idiot!" the boy said to Yusuke, who was now laughing at the offended look on the pale boy's face. "If you had knocked that over on me-," the boy continued, but stopped at the look on Hiei's face. "You would have what?" Hiei said, sending a glare in the boy's general direction. "Who are you anyway!" InuYasha asked, annoyed. "I am Draco Malfoy, a pureblood. Who are you, are you a Mudblood like that girl over there?" he asked, pointing to Kagome, who was chatting animatedly to the salesperson about a book she had found. "What do you consider to be a Mudblood, Mister Malfoy?" Sesshoumaru asked him, in a voice of deadly calm. "Someone with non-magical blood," Hiei answered for Malfoy. He had taken out his katana and was polishing it, cleaning it for the fight he was expecting. He didn't like this Malfoy character; he hated people who thought they were better because of their birth. He had dealt with many of those living in Makai; they never thought they were better than anyone else after that. In fact, they never thought of anything else after that. "I suppose you wouldn't take anything less than a full pedigree, will you, idiot?" Kurama, as Youko, asked. "No, actually, I don't need a pedigree for you five, I know every pureblood family in Britain," Malfoy said, with a maddeningly superior air. "How far back does yours go, I wonder," Kurama asked him, now thoroughly pissed off. "Nine hundred years. Hm, hey dog boy, how far back does your family go?" Malfoy said to InuYasha, his next target. "My younger brother is a hanyou. However, I am pureblood for at least one thousand five hundred years," Sesshoumaru answered for InuYasha. "Insult his mother as much as you want, I do not care about that, but never insult his father. That would be insulting me, and I do not take lightly to insult." InuYasha had left to talk to Kagome, probably to complain about Malfoy. Kurama was standing near a lamp, and behind him, on the wall, his shadow was a silhouette of a fox on two legs. It was nearing seven o'clock, and the moon would come out in an hour and a half. "My line is even farther than that, and if you want to piss me off even more, keep talking. On second thought, stop. I don't want to get thrown in jail for murder, there is too much else I could do with my time," he said, staring at the bookshelf behind Malfoy, not looking at him. "You, pretty boy, kill me? I'd like to see you try!" Malfoy snorted derisively at the thought. "Would you rather see me try, idiot human?" Hiei asked him, and made as if to attach him. Yusuke, however, stopped him by grabbing his sword arm. "Leave this idiot to me, you're not going to jail because of this jumped up brat," he whispered into Hiei's ear. Hiei sheathed his sword, and Yusuke stepped forward. "Wassup? You forget I'm here or something? I could kick your ass in less than two minutes with using less the five percent of my strength!" Yusuke laughed, more at the look on Malfoy's face than at what he said. "You fight Muggle style! How crude!" Malfoy said, smirking until Yusuke fist connected with his stomach. "OOF!" Malfoy gasped as he fell backwards. A pair of big hands caught him, and Malfoy smirked again. He knew this boy; this was Crabbe, his ally. "You wanted a Muggle fight, you get it Mudblood," he said, and told Crabbe, "Beat this Mudblood. He has ideas above his station." Crabbe wasn't really listening, however. He was doubled over, groaning. Yusuke, taking advantage of their inattention, had punched him in the stomach twice in quick succession. Kurama, losing interest in the fight, pulled on Hiei's scarf and dragged him into the stacks of books. "We might as well take advantage of the distraction and get something done!" he said, irritatedly cramming books into Hiei's arms. Hiei had just enough time to glance at the titles before he was pulled again. He had five copies of Transfiguration Level Six, five copies of The Standard Book of Spells Grade Six, five copies of Defending Against Friend and Foe: A Guide to the Practical Use of Counterjinxes, six copies of A History of Magic, and six copies of Advanced Potions: Serums, Solutions, and Soda Pop. "Kurama, do we actually need all these?" asked Yusuke, poking his head around the book stack while simultaneously punching Crabbe. Kagome was taking care of Malfoy; it appeared that just talking to a 'Mudblood' made him sick enough to not stop coughing. "You're sure you don't need a cough drop, Mister Malfoy?" Kagome was asking him, covering her mouth with her hand. "Don't bother, Kagome, he's not worth your time," InuYasha told her, but to no avail. She was really stubborn when she wanted to be, and right now she wanted to be. "Have you decided to leave yet, human child?" Sesshoumaru asked him, in a voice that concealed a deep loathing. Malfoy suddenly seemed to come to a decision, and said, "Crabbe, let's go. There's no point in staying here, with these Mudbloods." Crabbe tried to stand up and walk, but only succeeded in managing to hobble out of the door behind Malfoy. "Well, that was fun!" said Yusuke, but he was the only one who thought so, at least out of the ones that could hear him. Kurama and Hiei were at the counter, with Sesshoumaru behind them, handing them money. They finished and walked back to Yusuke, and Kurama said, "You owe Sesshoumaru twenty Galleons." Yusuke fished the money out of his pocket and handed it to Sesshoumaru. The six of them, InuYasha and Kagome included, walked out of the store and onto the street. It was now fully dark, and the full moon was shining very brightly. They divided the packages up, and walked toward the Leaky Cauldron. They passed Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, the most popular shop on the street by far, and soon they came to the barrier illusion. They walked through, and walked into the Leaky Cauldron. They each went up to their rooms, and most of them went to sleep. Three, however, did not sleep. Kurama, now fully transformed, was brushing his hair before he went outside. Sesshoumaru was up in his room reading his Potions book. Hiei was staring out the window, and then jumped out, onto the wall beneath, and went to Kurama's window. Kurama was waiting for him, and they walked through the barrier illusion, quiet as the night, to have some fun.


	4. The Article, and the Trip to Platform 9 ...

The next day, Kurama walked out of his room, looking disheveled and in need of sleep. Hiei followed him out of the room, looking almost as tired. Sesshoumaru was already out of his room, and downstairs. They waited for almost an hour, then Kurama asked Tom for a pail of icy water. He got it, and walked up the stairs toward the rooms. First, he went into Yusuke's room, and dumped some of the water onto Yusuke's face. The yell that ensued could have been heard by dead people in Albania. Yusuke then proceeded to follow Kurama out of the room, on the condition that he got to pour the water on InuYasha's face. They entered the room, and Yusuke poured about half of what was left of the water onto InuYasha facial area, and was rewarded for his effort by InuYasha jumping up and shaking himself off like a dog. Kurama was drenched, and was not happy at all with Yusuke or the dog boy. "What did you do that for?" he said to InuYasha, who merely growled and didn't answer. Kurama walked off in a huff, to go back downstairs. The two still upstairs saw Kagome come out of her room looking dazed. "What was that yell? Was someone hurt?" she asked sleepily, peering around. "That was me," Yusuke said cheerily and walked down the stairs. When they got to the floor, they saw Kurama grinning ear to ear, and Hiei smirking more than usual. "What is it?" Yusuke asked impatiently, and looked down at the table. There was a newspaper on the table, called the Daily Prophet. The front page article said in large letters: GRINGOTTS ROBBED! Kagome, InuYasha, and Yusuke sat down to read it; it said this:

"**_Nothing important was stolen," assured a goblin spokesperson to the media this morning._** **_The reported item stolen was the Towa no Shirube, an artwork renowned for its lifelikeness. _**

"Wow, Kurama, didn't know you liked art!" Yusuke said, and the others looked at him. "What, you didn't know?" he asked InuYasha, Kagome, and Sesshoumaru. "I knew, I don't know about the others," Sesshoumaru replied. InuYasha and Kagome were looking confused, so Kurama said, "That was me; last night was the full moon." They still looked confused, so Yusuke told them, "Don't worry about it, Youko's a professional, he won't get caught!" They read on:

_**The vault stolen from was vault six hundred and seventeen, one of the many guarded by a dragon. "I jus' don' unde'stand it," was a comment a patron had to say, "how could 'e of got past a d'agon?" This was the question on the lips of many, as the dragon was a particularly nasty specimen of Chinese Fireball. **_

"It was easy, really," Kurama said, trying to look modest, "all I had to do was look at it and it moved," and failed.

_**Any and all witnesses saw something different. One, an older gentleman, said the thief was tall, and another swore up and down that the thief was shorter than her grandmother. There were no deaths, and no traces of magic used. The forensics team sent by the Ministry was completely incompetent, and could not even find a hair left by the thief. A person we interviewed on the streets wanted to know why no one had thought that there might be more than one thief, an idea that had been dismissed as ridiculous by everyone on the scene.**_

"So, you were there too, huh, Hiei?" Yusuke asked him with a grin. Hiei glared at him, and said, "What do you think, Detective?"

_**Gringotts goblins announced that they will pay a hefty sum for any and all information leading to the location and arrest of the thief, and the return of the Towa. This was the Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter reporting.**_

Yusuke looked up, grinning like mad. InuYasha looked stunned, as did Kagome. Sesshoumaru had taken out the Potion's book, and was reading it. They finished breakfast, and went to Diagon Alley, this time as a group. They headed for Ollivander's, and they entered. Ollivander walked out of the back of the room, and saw them. "Two more for wands, eh?" he said nonchalantly. Kagome stepped forward and requested she go first. "I can't do anything for you, my dear, have that young man over there do it. You have access to anything in my shop." Kurama pulled out a piece of purple wood, and asked her, "Do you have anything that is completely yours?" She took a jar out from her shirt and pulled a shard of something out of it. "Will this do?" She handed it to him and he created the wand. "Can you make it so that I won't lose it?" she asked him, taking it. He took it back and said, "It is now bound to your spirit. If it goes out of your possession, it will come back." "You mean like a dog?" Hiei said, with a look at InuYasha. Kagome pushed InuYasha forward, and Kurama produced a length of yellow wood. "I need something of yours," he said exasperatedly as InuYasha stood there confusedly. "Right," InuYasha said, and pulled out the Tetsusaiga. It transformed, and he pulled a hair out of the hilt and handed it to Kurama. He attached it to the wood, and handed it to InuYasha. When he took it, his hair turned black and his eyes turned red for a moment. It passed quickly, and the whole group exited the shop.

The next three weeks passed relatively uneventful. Relatively, because no demons attacked. There were, however, several jinxing attempts done by Malfoy. It was September 1, the day that the Hogwarts Express was due to leave. Yusuke was stuffing clothes into his trunk hurriedly, and was sweating from the effort. "You should have packed a week ago!" Kurama said, exasperated. "Hn," Hiei said, watching Yusuke shovel several books into his trunk at once. Kurama and Hiei, getting bored, went to InuYasha's room, where Kagome was busy yelling at InuYasha for being lazy. "Wouldn't want to be him!" Yusuke said with feeling, coming up behind them. "Did you finish packing already?" Kurama asked him, disbelieving. "Yeah, I finally figured out how to shrink stuff with my wand," he replied. Kurama and Hiei went into their respective rooms to get their luggage. Kurama's luggage consisted of a suitcase of clothes, a trunk, and an invisible, warded dimensional pocket containing the Towa no Shirube; Hiei's luggage was slightly less. He only had a trunk; his clothes were in a similar dimensional pocket, only this one wasn't warded. They carried their things downstairs, where Yusuke, InuYasha, and Kagome had convened with their own luggage. "Where's Sesshoumaru?" Yusuke asked them, looking up from a conversation with InuYasha about broomsticks. "He's apparently still upstairs, I think," Kurama answered him, "come on Hiei, let's go get him. We'll be late for the train." Kurama, followed closely by Hiei, walked up the stairs rather quickly, and walked to Sesshoumaru's door. Hiei knocked on the door, but there was no answer. They opened the door and found Sesshoumaru asleep on his bed, his book on his stomach. Hiei conjured a ball of fire and touched it to Sesshoumaru's nose; he was impatient. Sesshoumaru opened his eyes and, with surprising speed for someone who just woke up, raked his claws over Hiei's face. This was not a good idea, because Hiei's fire crab, on his hair, decided to protect his master. A jet of blue hot flame shot out of its mouth and hit Sesshoumaru straight in the face. When the flames died away, the two saw a rather unusual mark on Sesshoumaru's face. There was now a miniature Hiei on his cheek, right between one of the lines on his face. Kurama busted out laughing, and Hiei looked horrified. Yusuke, who had come up to see what all the commotion was, through fits of laughter, said, "I think your turtle idolizes you a bit, Hiei!" Hiei was now blushing furiously, and disappeared from the room. Kagome and InuYasha had by now come up to see what was taking so long, and InuYasha was laughing his head off. "How are you going to get that off before the train? It's almost eleven o'clock!" Kagome exclaimed. Sesshoumaru was already off the bed and grabbing his trunk. "Here's a cloaking spell," Kurama said, throwing something at him, "it's localized. No one will be able to see it while you wear it." After saying this, he exited the room, presumably to find Hiei.

Everyone eventually arrived downstairs, with their luggage, and they walked out the door. "Are we going to walk to King's Cross Station, or should we call a cab? I don't recommend walking with all this stuff to carry," Kurama said, not unreasonably. "Aw, hurry up and call a cab already!" Yusuke said, already bored from chronic short attention span. Sesshoumaru was trying to figure out how to attach the cloaking spell to his cheek and activate it, but had not succeeded in doing so. Hiei walked over to him, raised his hand to about one foot away from Sesshoumaru's face, and said, "Activus." Nothing happened. He looked perplexed for a moment, then his face lost any expression. He then reached his hand into his scarf and pulled out his wand. He said it again, this time holding his wand, and the cloaking spell started abruptly.

While this was going on, Kurama was busy trying to hail a taxi. When he finally found one, he waved at it, and it stopped on the curb next to them. Yusuke picked up his, Kurama's, and Kagome's luggage and threw it in the trunk of the cab. He then jumped into the taxi and started talking to the driver. Hiei threw his luggage into the trunk of the car, followed quickly by InuYasha doing so. Hiei sat himself down on top of the car, not even bothering to see if the cab was full or not. InuYasha was looking warily at the car, not sure if he trusted it or not. Sesshoumaru looked at it and said, "What is that thing, exactly?" "It's a car, now if you idiots don't want to be late, get in the car already!" said Yusuke, the Ma-zoku with the short attention span. Sesshoumaru climbed into it gingerly, looking out of his depth. One reason for this might have been his ears, which were obviously pointed, or the slightly shimmery look to the left side of his face, where the cloaking spell was. Kagome was getting into the car, so InuYasha followed her; however, with all of them inside, there was no room for Kurama to sit. Kurama decided to sit on the top, with Hiei. The car pulled away, and the car passed an ice cream shop. Kurama handed Hiei a little money; he had some of his yen from Japan converted to pounds. Hiei disappeared, and reappeared a little later with a large chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and Kurama's change in the other. Hiei started eating his ice cream cone, while thinking rather hard. He didn't really like InuYasha, but he felt he could trust him, at least as much as he could trust the baka. Sesshoumaru, though, he was a puzzle. He didn't seem like someone who helped others much, but in Sesshoumaru's mind there were lots of pictures of a little human girl. Hiei decided he would reserve judgment on him until he'd seen him in action. Kagome was a human, but there was something different about her. The toddler had mentioned something about a connection between her and a priestess; maybe that accounted for her strangeness. He decided to see her fight before he would make a decision.


	5. The Train Ride

Before they were halfway to the station, Yusuke started singing 'One Hundred Bottles of Beer', driving Sesshoumaru to covering his ears with his hands. InuYasha was singing along, though, and Kagome was looking disapprovingly at them both. The driver was being harassed by the blue fox, fire crab, and the puffskein. Puu was busying himself sitting on top of Yusuke's head, and Sesshoumaru's hippogriff Gemini was flying over them, on top of the clouds. They arrived at Kings' Cross Station, and disembarked from the taxi. Sesshoumaru was looking rather worse for the wear, with his hair rather more straggly as usual. He quickly walked towards a wall and stood there, trying to look unconcerned with his appearance while brushing his hair with his fingers. Hiei jumped off of the top of the cab, much to the surprise of the driver who had had no idea that he was even there. Kurama was already walking over to join Sesshoumaru, listening for any sign of wizard life at the train station. There didn't seem to be any, even though all the wizard children of Hogwarts should have been there. Yusuke was out of the car and grabbing the baggage out of the trunk, and then ran over to where the two were standing. Hiei was next to a barrier between platforms nine and ten, looking like he was waiting for something. Kagome walked over to where Hiei was standing and started to try and talk to him. "How do we get to this Platform 9 3/4, do you think?" she asked him, looking around. InuYasha came up behind her and grabbed her hair. "OW! SIT BOY!" Kagome yelled, without turning around. InuYasha hit the ground with a thump loud enough to attract the attention of many Muggle passersby. "That's nothing, she has him so whipped that if she told him to shine her shoes he'd do it," Yusuke said to them casually, causing InuYasha to growl at him. Hiei looked at the clock; it was 10:45. He walked straight through the barrier without a backward glance. Kurama, seeing this, walked toward the barrier and walked through. Yusuke followed him through, putting only his hand through first, testing it. He watched it for a minute, and then ran through as well, whooping. Kagome looked at InuYasha and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the barrier. Sesshoumaru cut in front of them, walking through ahead. Kagome was about to walk through, when she heard a familiar voice. InuYasha had heard it too, and had turned already. They saw the red haired boy from before, surrounded by what must have been his family. There were the two boys from the shop, wearing what looked like matching leather pants. They were followed by a much taller red haired person, one that was slightly shorter, and a woman that could only be the mother. She was saying something to the twins, "Where did Ginny get to? The train leaves in ten minutes!" Kagome, hearing this, started and dragged InuYasha through the barrier.

They met up with the others on the platform. Sesshoumaru had found Gemini and was sitting astride him; lots of people were staring at him. Draco Malfoy, the boy from Diagon Alley, was walking up to him, next to a man that looked so like him it had to be his father. "When Draco told me that there was a pureblood that we didn't know about, naturally I was intrigued. I must say, your appearance is rather… unorthodox, shall we say," he said nastily, staring at Sesshoumaru's ears. "By the way, I am Lucius Malfoy." Kurama walked up to him, his fox at his heels. "Excuse me, were you looking for me?" "I am sure that I have never met you before in my life, Mudblood," Lucius replied. "I believe I had this conversation with you son three weeks ago, Mr. Malfoy, and established that my family is purer than yours and longer than yours, so don't be throwing insults at everyone better looking than you. I would also appreciate it if you would stop staring a Kaeoss. He doesn't like anyone but me, or someone I like, and attacks if he doesn't like you. Good day," Kurama said, and walked off. He had seen a flash of red hair, almost as vivid as his own as Shuuichi. Lucius looked at his retreating back, and raised his wand. He started to say, "Avada Kedavra," and was waiting for Kurama to drop dead. When he did not, he looked down at his wand and saw Hiei standing in front of him. "If you blocked my spell, why are you not dead! I demand an answer!" "For your information, ningen, I did not block your spell. I slit your wrist holding your wand, and you killed a plant. Even if you had hit me, the most you could have done to me is a nosebleed." Lucius, now feeling the pain in his wrist, looked down in horror at the blood welling out of the cut. Yusuke walked up to the two of them, and looked at Hiei incredulously. "You are really trying to get yourself into pacifier breath's prison, aren't you?" Better than this stupid mission with stupid ningen who try to kill my friends and insult them and get on my nerves with their superior crap. Hiei thought at him. Yusuke tore a piece of fabric off of his shirt and wrapped it around Lucius' wrist. Yusuke glared at him, and Lucius said nothing, only grabbed Draco's arm with his other hand and walked away. Malfoy the Younger looked back at them with a new kind of grudging respect. "Where'd the thief go?" InuYasha asked them, with a hint of apprehension in his voice. "He's somewhere," Hiei said, walking onto the train.

Kurama was, throughout this whole exchange, following a girl with red hair along the platform. He caught up to her, and stood in front of her. "What are you running from?" he asked her, waiting for an answer. "The train. I won't go back to school." "Is this just normal schoolgirl avoidance of school? You don't look anything like Yusuke, though, so I doubt it's that." "Something bad is going to happen at school this year, there is a bad man in charge, I don't want to go!" "Trust me, I know all about the bad man in charge at Hogwarts. My question is how do you know about him? How do you know he's there, and how do you know he's bad?" "I see him in my dreams. I talked to Harry about his real dreams, and mine feel the same way, so I know they're real. I know he's bad because I saw him help kidnap Professor Dumbledore!" The girl was distraught, almost in tears. "You saw him in the kidnapping? What did he do, how many were with him, did he look, happy?" "I don't want to talk about it, it was horrible!" She sat down and leaned against the wall, really crying now. At that exact moment, a whole troupe of red haired people arrived, and the woman said, "Ginny, dear, where have you been? Why are you crying, Dearest, you should be happy to go back to school, you've never had a problem before?" Ginny wouldn't look up at her mother. She just sat there next to Kurama, rocking back and forth. "Ma'am, I think I can get her on the train," he said to her politely. "Who are you?" she asked him, eyeing him beadily. "My name is Ku… I mean, Shuuichi Minamino," he said to her, helping Ginny to her feet. Ginny had stopped crying, and was looking back and forth at Kurama and her mother like she was at a tennis match. "You look trustworthy enough." She turned to the rest of them and started barking out orders, "Fred, George, go back to the main platform. Bill, Charlie, follow them and make sure they don't plant anything in the baggage compartment; I wouldn't put it past them. Ron, you go find Harry and Hermione and get on the train." She walked away on the heels of Bill and Charlie. Kurama was supporting Ginny on his shoulder, and they walked toward Kurama's friends.

Kurama and Ginny walked toward the rest of the Japanese group as the Malfoys were leaving. Yusuke saw him, and ran toward him. He stopped when he saw Ginny though. "Oy, Kurama, the train leaves in three minutes. Hiei's already on the train, saving us a compartment, I think. Who's that?" he asked, pointing to Ginny, who was now half asleep on Kurama's shoulder. "I found her hiding from the train, she had visions of Karasu over the summer, including when he helped kidnap Dumbledore, and was scared to go back. She says something bad is going to happen at school this year," he answered Yusuke, while walking toward the train. "I'm following Hiei's youki, if you guys want to find his compartment, I suggest you follow me." InuYasha followed Yusuke, rubbing his shoulder; Gemini had just kicked him for pulling his tail. Kagome came close after, watching the people on the platform. Sesshoumaru and Gemini flew up to the roof of the train, where Gemini curled up and fell asleep instantly. Sesshoumaru jumped down onto the train. Kaeoss ran onto the train behind him, followed by Hiei's turtle and Yusuke's puffskein. Puu came in last, heading down to the back of the train. Sesshoumaru and the pets followed him, and arrived in a cabin near the end of the train. There were three people in it, besides Hiei, Kurama, the girl on Kurama's shoulder, Yusuke, InuYasha and Kagome. Someone had magically enlarged the cabin, so that that many people could fit comfortably in it and there still be a lot more room. The train started moving, rather fast. Sesshoumaru and the pets entered, where Hiei's turtle automatically crawled up him into his hair. "Is that a miniature fire crab? I didn't know they were allowed at school," the girl with brown hair said. "Yes. There are a lot of things you don't know." "Say, Hiei, you never told us what its name was," Yusuke said, turning to look at Hiei. "Skwonky." "What kind of a name is Skwonky!" the whole cabin yelled, surprised. "What is your extra pet's name?" InuYasha asked Yusuke, who shrugged. "No clue. Any ideas?" he asked the entire cabin. "How about, um, Rin?" Kagome said, with a look at Sesshoumaru. He glared at her, but Yusuke said, "That's a girl's name. This is a boy. How about I call him Suzuka, in thanks for the help in the tournament? Hear that, fuzzball, your name is Suzuka." Ginny, the girl on Kurama's shoulder was sleeping, but she looked like she was having a nightmare. All of a sudden she screamed, and Kurama covered his ear. The red haired boy in the compartment jumped up and made a sudden move toward the screaming girl. "Ginny, wake up!" he yelled, with a panicked look. "Your name is Ron right? Stop yelling, please. You'll wake up InuYasha; that wouldn't make me too happy, seeing as how he won't stop bothering me about how fast we're moving in this train," Kagome scolded him. Hiei was staring out the window, looking at nothing but observing everything. Sesshoumaru was also sleeping, and the cloaking spell was starting to wear off, so the Hiei mark was visible every fifteen seconds or so. The brown haired girl, Hermione, was trying to shake Ginny awake, but Kurama waved her away and pulled a leaf out of his hair. He put it under Ginny's nose, and she woke up immediately. She started crying again, and Kurama tried to talk to her. "Ginny, did you have another vision? What did you see?" "Leave her alone, can't you see she's crying!" Ron snapped at him furiously. "Of course he can see it, Ron, how could he not? She's crying all over him!" Hermione snapped at him while rubbing Ginny's back. "I saw, I saw, I saw the bad guy that kidnapped Dumbledore, he was laughing over someone's body, it looked familiar, then he bent over it and touched its cheek and it screamed, it turned over and it was, it was," Ginny stuttered, then burst into tears again. "Who was it!" Kurama asked urgently, "We need to know!" Ginny looked up and pointed at him. Kurama turned pale and got up and ran to the window where Hiei was. Hiei moved out of his way and opened the window in one fluid motion. When Kurama was done throwing up, Hiei put his hand on Kurama's shoulder, and left it there. Kaeoss, Kurama's blue fox, was twining itself around his legs, and with a motion from Yusuke, Puu was over next to him, chattering away. "Are you absolutely sure that was who it was," Yusuke said, sitting next to her. Ginny nodded, and broke into heart wrenching sobs again.

"Why did he have such a huge reaction?" Hermione asked, staring at Kurama. "It's mostly his business. All I'm telling you is that Karasu has an obsession with him for some reason," Yusuke said to her. Ginny was still crying hard, and Kurama was extremely pale. InuYasha and Sesshoumaru had woken up, and InuYasha was covering his ears. Sesshoumaru was wishing that Jaken was there so he could shut the crying human girl up. All of a sudden, the door of the compartment opened up and a boy stared into the area. "Oh hi, Seamus! What are you doing here?" Harry asked the boy, who was breathing rather heavily. "Ron, Hermione, prefects are wanted in the front of the train," he said between breaths. He couldn't stop staring at the pale red haired person by the window. "Who's the new girl?" he asked, once he could breathe normally again and Ron and Hermione had left. "Oh, you mean Kagome?" Harry said, pointing to the black haired girl. "No, the red haired one, by the window." Kurama spoke then, rather annoyed. "I am a boy. I may be pretty, but I am a boy." Hiei left Kurama's side and flitted to in front of Seamus. "I don't like you. You don't look right," he said, not meaning his clothes and features. "Who's your best friend?" Seamus asked Kurama. Kurama, nonplussed, said, "Hiei, I think." Seamus left then, with a strange look on his face. Hiei turned around and flitted back next to Kurama. "That was weird," Yusuke said to everyone. "Does he do that often?" asked Kagome. The door opened again to reveal Draco Malfoy looking very angry. "Every other compartment is full," he said, walking inside. He sat down away from the others, whom were all staring at him, except for Ginny, who was still crying softly. "What's wrong with her?" he said insensitively, pointing at Ginny. "She had a disturbing vision," Kurama answered him. Kaeoss, the fox, was slowly making his way toward Malfoy. He stopped about five inches away from Malfoy's foot, and stared at him. "So, you don't like your father much," Kurama said, nodding towards him. "How, I mean, what are you talking about?" Malfoy said, apprehensively. Kaeoss was now sitting on top of his feet, and Malfoy was looking decidedly nervous. Kaeoss strangely seemed to like Malfoy. Ginny looked up from her crying, saw Malfoy sitting there, and looked confused. "Why does Kaeoss like you?" she asked him through her tears. "No clue," he answered. Harry, very wary of Malfoy's seeming politeness, asked, "Why are you not taunting all of us right now? There aren't any teachers around." "I am," Sesshoumaru said unexpectedly. "Really?" Hermione asked, coming back inside, "What subject?" "Potions." Ron, coming in right after Hermione, looked at Harry and yelled, "Wahoo! No more Snape!" "I believe Professor Snape is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Kurama said, watching Kaeoss climb next to Malfoy. "Fascinating," Hiei said dryly, indicating his boredom with the subject by returning to the window. He then surprised Malfoy, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Ron by jumping out the window. Malfoy jumped up, surprising Kaeoss, and walked quickly to the window, followed closely by the rest of the British people. They looked out the window, but could not see any blood on the ground. A voice from behind them said, "I'd look up if I were you, and they did so to see Hiei's cloak hanging off the top of the train.


	6. End of the Ride and Sorting

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at the cloak, in wonder. Malfoy, however, did not seem nearly as surprised as the trio. He merely nodded in appreciation of the feat. Ginny was shocked out of her crying, and was looking better than she had since she fell asleep. Sesshoumaru was watching the human teens amusedly, as if he found it mildly amusing. Kurama was sitting down, and laughing shakily at the looks on the wizards' faces. Kaeoss had slunk to under Kurama's legs, so Kurama had a blue furry footrest, of sorts. Hiei, on the roof of the train, was sitting cross-legged next to Gemini, Sesshoumaru's pet hippogriff. Gemini was sleeping, but woke up when Hiei sat down next to him. Hiei, tired of the confusion in the cabin, had jumped onto the roof to get some peace. "Stupid humans, their senses are so off they couldn't even tell anything about that kid that came in," he said, derisively. Back inside the compartment, conversations had broken out excitedly, everyone talking about the thought of Snape being DADA teacher. "I'll bet there is no practical magic involved," Ginny said, dejectedly. "The teacher's name is Snape, right? I've heard something about someone with that name, where was it?" Kagome said, mostly to herself. Ginny was looking better by the minute; Kurama was minutely better than when he heard Ginny's dream.

Suddenly, interrupting the chatter was a knock on the compartment door. Yusuke opened it to reveal a matronly witch with a cart full of food. "Anything for you, dears?" she asked, smiling happily. Yusuke, who out of the Japanese group had missed breakfast, took out fifteen Galleons and threw it down on the cart. "How much can I get for this?" he said, staring hungrily at the food. She told him, and he grabbed twenty-five Chocolate Frogs, sixteen Fizzing Whizbees, and five Ice Mice. He started eating the Fizzing Whizbees, and floated three feet off the ground the whole time he was eating them. "I can't eat all of this," he said, and picked up about half of his candy and held it up into the air. "Whoever grabs it gets it!" he said, and threw it all into the air. Malfoy took out his wand and said, "Accio seven candies!" Five Chocolate Frogs and two Ice Mice flew accordingly towards him, landing neatly in his outstretched hands. Kagome grabbed seven Chocolate Frogs, and opened one. After opening the box, the frog that was inside jumped onto her face; she gave a surprised squeak. She pointed her wand at her face and a jet of blue light flew out of it. She lowered her wand to see the frog laying on her lap, only instead of chocolate it was now a strange shade of blue. She took a bite and said, "Mmm, blueberry!" InuYasha had caught five Chocolate Frogs, and was looking at one suspiciously. Kurama grabbed the remaining eight Chocolate Frogs, and had given four of them to Ginny, who hadn't caught any of it. The last three Ice Mice fell into Sesshoumaru's claws, who then proceeded to eat them.

At that moment, Hiei flitted back inside the compartment and informed the rest of the group inside that the train was approaching a castle. All but Kurama and Sesshoumaru looked at one another in surprise; they had not realized it had been that long. Kurama was talking to a statue that he was holding; it appeared as if he was getting answered, as well, even though no one heard anything. "Is that…" Yusuke started to ask. He was answered by Hiei, who nodded. The others, with the possible exceptions of Sesshoumaru and InuYasha, had not heard this exchange. They were too busy discussing how they could have gotten to Hogwarts so much faster than usual.

The train stopped with a jolt. Everyone jumped; they had not been expecting the arrival to be quite so sudden. "Something's coming; I don't think it's human," Kurama said, surreptitiously smelling the air. Hiei nodded the affirmative; he had known that. Kurama had only said it for the benefit of the humans in the cabin. The door of the compartment rattled, and opened. There was a small person standing there, with an unpleasant look on his face. "It's an imp!" Ginny said in surprise, and walked toward it. Ron instinctively pulled her back away from it. "A Deadly Nightshade Imp from where we're from," Hiei said, with a look at Kurama. "Okay, now we know what it is, what does it want!" Ron asked, still staring at it. The imp was looking at Kurama, with a look of maliciousness in his eyes. "Leave, now!" Kurama said loudly, watching it warily. It shook its head. "Master Karasu wants you now." "I know he wants me, I want him to leave me alone!" Kurama said, now walking toward the creature. From seemingly out of nowhere, he procured his rose-wand and pointed it at the imp. A whip made of thorns sprang from the wand tip and wrapped around the throat of the imp, who made a funny whimpering noise and turned a funny shade of purple. "Are you killing it?" asked Sesshoumaru, in a slightly interested voice. "No. I want some answers first," Kurama answered him in a steely voice. Yusuke stepped toward the fox and his prey. "Alright, I'll go first! How did this Dumbledore guy get kidnapped, if he's supposed to be such a hotshot magic guy?" he asked the imp inside the whip. It spit at him; the vine whip tightened accordingly. "Answer him; I'm not as merciful as the fox over there," Hiei said with one of his signature death's-head glares. "Alright, alright! No need to kill me, I'll tell you," the imp said, "Masters Karasu and Naraku are immune to magic. They attacked Dumbledore, he used magic, didn't matter, Master Karasu exploded a bomb on Dumbledore's leg, Naraku brought Kanna with him, she took out enough of the soul so the target couldn't move, then he was stung by the Sanyousho! I swear, that's all I know!" The imp suddenly found his air supply completely cut off by the whip. "You know more. Talk," InuYasha said, in the most serious voice anyone had heard him use so far.

"Is this, human, still alive? Also where is he being held?" Sesshoumaru asked the imp, who was shaking uncontrollably from fear. Sesshoumaru had the light of bloodlust in his eyes; he had not hurt anything for days, not since he came on this stupid mission. "He's still alive! I don't know where he's being held, I'm just an imp!" the imp said in a quivering voice. The imp figured his chances of surviving this encounter about one in seventy-five hundred; he wasn't disappointed. The next thing that the human part of the compartment saw was Sesshoumaru standing near the imp holding a sickly glowing whip and the imp dead on the floor. Ron threw up; he was not used to things dying. Hermione looked ready to be sick for the same reason. "Well, Hermione, I think you've got your wish about seeing thestrals," Harry said to her in a shaky voice. Malfoy was looking at Sesshoumaru questioningly. "Why did you kill him? He was a representative of the new headmaster. That would be your boss, as far as I can tell," Malfoy said to him, ignoring the 'Butt Out' look that InuYasha was giving him. "I have no boss," Sesshoumaru said, as if the mere thought of having such a thing disgusted him. "I killed him because that is what I do. I am a teacher, I protect the students." 'Nice job passing for a human, Sesshoumaru, there's nothing strange about killing things in front of students,' Hiei thought to Sesshoumaru. A faint smirk appeared on the otherwise impassive face of the dog demon.

"Everyone off the train," a voice said, seemingly coming from the ceiling. It was a voice that Sesshoumaru, InuYasha, and Kagome recognized quite well; Naraku was on the train somewhere. The ones who did not recognize the voice shivered involuntarily, because the voice sounded evil and emotionally devoid. When the humans, demons, and pets exited the compartment, Sesshoumaru and InuYasha started smelling the air, searching for Naraku's scent. "Damn, he's gone," InuYasha said, accidentally punching a whole in the wall of the train as they got off of it. "Reparo," Kagome said, and the wall fixed itself. "Nice one, when'd you have time to learn that?" Yusuke asked appreciatively. "There're the carriages, where do you guys go?" Ginny asked the foreign group. Kurama had already pulled out his letter and was rereading it. "We go inside the carriages, as well," he said, walking in that direction. Ginny looked back at him and noticed that the statue he had been talking to was gone. She shrugged and walked toward an open carriage.

"Well, now I can see those mad horse things," Ron said, wonderingly, as he walked toward the carriage Ginny was inside. Sesshoumaru was not walking with the group towards the carriages, however. He was mounting his hippogriff Gemini. Kurama had approached one of the thestrals, and was petting its mane while Kaeoss traversed its back. Kaeoss eventually decided to lie down in the middle of the thestral's back, and Kurama seated himself inside the carriage with the others minus Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru and Gemini set off toward the castle, followed distantly by the carriages. Oddly, the carriages arrived at roughly the same time at the castle as he did. He dismounted as the students exited the carriages. Several of the students wanted to touch Gemini; only a brave few did so. Among these were Luna, Ginny, Malfoy, and Harry, who all managed to pet Gemini's back. When they had finished, Luna went inside and left the others standing outside. Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke, InuYasha, and Kagome were waiting right outside the doors to the castle. Sesshoumaru, Ginny, Malfoy, and Harry walked up to them, and Harry, Malfoy, and Ginny went inside. The demons and priestess were met by a fierce looking woman with a walking stick. "I am Minerva McGonagall. I am deputy headmistress of this school. You are the new students and teacher, I presume?" she said as she led them inside. The group nodded, except for Hiei. He didn't think she should even have needed to ask the question, as no one they had seen had looked remotely like them. She led them to a hallway where there were two doors. "Change into your robes in here, I took the liberty of removing a set of robes for each of you from out of your suitcases," she said, and handed each of them their robes. They took them, and walked into their respective bathrooms. When they were finished, they came out of the bathrooms and were shown the way into the Great Hall. "Professor Sesshoumaru, you may go sit at the staff table now. The rest of you, wait right out here until I come to get you. You will be Sorted before the first years," she said, and walked into the large area, closely trailed by Sesshoumaru.

The Great Hall door was left open after they left. The five who were left looked at each other, as the man in the front of the hall stood up. Kurama became pale, but held his ground and didn't throw up or faint. The man standing was none other than Karasu, and he had apparently seen Kurama. He was staring towards the group, and smiling slightly. "Hello students my name is Karasu. I am headmaster for as long as Professor Dumbledore is… indisposed," he said, with a miniature pause at the end of his statement. "The Sorting Hat will now be brought out." A rather large, tattered hat appeared on top of a stool to the left of the staff table. It opened its mouth and started to sing:

_The Sorting Hat is who I am,_

_For that is what I do._

_I sort you all into four houses,_

_And remember every one, or two._

_I must also give you this warning:_

_Trust not the unknown ones_

_Except for those who come to fight_

_The evil that's soon undone._

_The friend that you thought you knew_

_Might also be a foe._

_But very sadly I must say_

_There's no sure way to know._

_But anyway, back to the Sorting, _

_All you first years so cute,_

_You'll be going to your house,_

_And making new friends, to boot_

_The bravest will go to Gryffindor_

_The ambitious to Slytherin,_

_The wisest go to Ravenclaw,_

_Hufflepuff gets the rest of them._

_Hopefully, the rifts between_

_These four houses will_

_Disappear during this year_

_For splitting you is wrong still._

_Creatures of this world unite!_

_Goblins, daemons, and house elves _

_All must work together to save_

_This land and ourselves._

_I hope you listened to me today,_

_I gave you good advice._

_Please take what I have said to heart,_

_And everyone, play nice!_

Professor McGonagall stood up and walked from her chair to the entrance of the Great Hall. "You may come in now," she said, leading them toward the Sorting Hat. She took out a piece of parchment, and read their names off of it in alphabetical order. "Higurashi, Kagome!" Kagome walked toward the chair with the frayed hat on it. She looked back at Professor McGonagall, who motioned for her to put the hat on her head. Kagome did so. "One of the ones mentioned in my song, are you? Well, I know exactly where to put you! Bravery, special powers, you could only be a Gryffindor!" the hat said. Most of that statement had been in her mind only, but the word Gryffindor had been shouted to the rest of the hall. As she walked toward the Gryffindor table where Ginny and Harry were sitting, she observed Karasu watching her interestedly. She tore her gaze away from his and sat down on Ginny's right side to watch the others. "Jaganshi, Hiei!" Hiei walked over, human speed, to the stool with the hat. He put it on; surprisingly it fit over his hair. "Another mentioned in my song. Hmm, you're tougher than the last one. Plenty of bravery, an almost uncontrollable bloodlust at times, very knowledgeable, where should I put you?" "That doesn't matter, as long as I have the ability to complete my mission where I am put." "So formal? Well, I can't make a very educated guess where you are concerned, because you have such strong mind blocks, so I'll send you with the girl: Gryffindor!" the hat said, shouting the last word as it did for Kagome. Hiei, walking toward the Gryffindor table, also felt Karasu's eyes upon him. He, however, did not give Karasu the satisfaction of looking at him. "Minamino, Kurama!" As Kurama walked toward the stool, he could hear the students whispering as they had not with the first two. "Wow, cute girl, hope she's in my house," one said, and was quickly elbowed by his friend, who said, "That's a guy, you idiot!" Kurama also could feel Karasu's eyes following his every movement, which did not happen to Hiei or Kagome. Kurama was determinedly not looking at Karasu. He felt that if he looked at him for even a second, he would either throw up or attack him, neither of which was an option. He made it to the stool, and put the hat upon his head. "What are you so afraid of?" the hat asked him, as soon as it was fully on Kurama's head. Kurama opened up the memory to the hat, who nodded. "I see. Perfectly legitimate reason; however, besides your current fear, you are a generally brave person, a loyal friend to those who have not betrayed you, a hatred for people who betray others, I see. You are another of the ones sent to protect us. Do not worry; I will not tell what I know about demons to another. You will notice I said 'daemons' in the song, instead of the word 'demons.' Anyway, I think you should stay with the others, so Gryffindor!" Kurama rose and took the hat off of his head. He then walked toward the table to sit next to Hiei, across from Ginny. He made an almost imperceptible movement as he sat, and then chanced a look at Karasu. Karasu's face was inscrutable as he pulled the rose out of his hand. "Taisho, InuYasha!" was the next to be called. He walked up to the hat warily, and picked it up. He set it over his ears. "Ah, a half-demon are you? Your brother's the new Potions teacher; helping you and your friends, I suppose. You are brave, most definitely, loyal to your friends, in love with the girl over there." At this, InuYasha blushed and said, "I am not!" "Okay, let's say that you're not. You are on the same mission as the others, so I'm sending you to Gryffindor!" InuYasha got up, looking relieved. It had been weird to have something not alive poking through your brain; he didn't think he liked it much. He walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Kagome. "Urameshi, Yusuke!" was called. Yusuke stopped lounging against the wall and walked towards the unsuspecting hat. He put it on, and immediately said, "Put me in Slytherin." "Slytherin? Whatever for?" asked the hat, in an incredulous voice. "Because there needs to be someone in that house, and there is someone who could possible help us. You know, with our 'Save the World' situation here?" "You do have some of the qualities for a Slytherin; you certain have the disrespect for authority. You realize, of course, that you will actually need to attend classes this year?" "Yeah, yeah, just hurry up and sort me already!" "SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled. Yusuke stood up, and walked to the Slytherin table. He sat down next to Malfoy, who looked at him and nodded. This approval signaled the rest of the table to stop staring.

The rest of the students were sorted, with thirteen new Gryffindors, twelve new Ravenclaws, seven new Hufflepuffs, and five Slytherins. Karasu stood up to make a speech. "Two posts have new teachers: Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Potions will be taught by Lord Sesshoumaru. Defense Against the Dark Arts will be taught by Professor Snape." This pronouncement was met with half-hearted applause. "Professor Snape will be teaching you the types of physical defense needed to combat the darker aspects of the world. Lord Sesshoumaru will be teaching you how to mix different kinds of poisons, should the need ever arise. There will be several new types of creatures added to the curriculum in Care of Magical Creatures, and Mr. Filch wishes me to tell you that the list of banned items has grown. However, this year I will allow duels to be fought in the halls." At this, several of the teachers gave him looks of disbelief. "Also, there is no High Inquisitor this year. On a, shall we say lighter note? any student who wishes to fight me may do so at any time. How many deaths do you think we can achieve this year?" The last sentence was said in a different language, and directed at the six from Koenma.


	7. Another Attack, and Friendly Mysteries

Kurama, Hiei, and InuYasha looked at each other in surprise. None of them had expected Karasu to be so forthright about his intentions. Sesshoumaru was watching Karasu, seemingly apathetic to the statement made moments before. The other Gryffindors were watching the three new boys with interest. It was quite obvious that they had not understood the last sentence of the speech. "Lastly, go ahead and eat; you'll need to keep your strength up for this year," Karasu finished, with a final look at Kurama before he sat down. Chattering then broke out among the students, until food appeared on their plates. There was fried chicken, roast beef; there was even some chicken noodle soup! There were different kinds of juice to drink; there was pumpkin juice, apple juice, and some banana juice. The students made short work of the meal, and proceeded to have dessert. There were about seven different flavors of ice cream: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, peanut butter chocolate fudge, mint chocolate, raspberry, and cherry chocolate vanilla. The students kept trying to get thirds of the ice cream, but every time they went to scoop for their third bowl, the ice cream magically moved away from their spoon.

When dinner was finished, the congregation separated into house groups. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws walked out of the Great Hall in a large mass and walked down the hallway toward the dungeons. The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors went the opposite way, up the stairs toward their towers. Yusuke, with the Slytherins, was already bored. The conversation at the lunch table had all been about who had snubbed who (Pansy Parkinson had snubbed Neville), which Gryffindor was the goody-goodiest (Harry Potter, unanimously), and why Professor Snape had gotten Defense Against the Dark Arts. The only thing that interested Yusuke happened as they were exiting the hall. He saw Malfoy hang back, with the thug Crabbe and another thug that Yusuke did not recognize. He stepped back to the back of the throng and started walking just in front of them. "Who is this Professor Sesshoumaru, anyway?" Yusuke heard Draco ask. He seemed to be talking to himself, because no one, not even his cronies, was listening; no one but Yusuke, at least. "Sesshoumaru is InuYasha's older brother. No clue how good he is at Potions, though. When you have class with him, call him Lord. And, no matter how hard it is not to ask, don't ask him about the mark on his cheek shaped like Hiei. Long story," Yusuke said to Malfoy. "Don't you mean when we have class?" Malfoy asked him, glaring at something over Yusuke's shoulder. "Maybe. But probably I'll be on the roof. Or training. Or practicing something I need to know. Oh yeah, that's training. Whaddya know?" Yusuke replied, looking over his shoulder trying to see what Malfoy was glaring at. Yusuke almost twisted his head around all the way before he saw Hermione pass through the hallway across from them. Yusuke grinned, and said, "What's up with you?" and walked forward through the crowd.

Kurama, InuYasha, and Hiei were walking toward the Gryffindor common room with all of their housemates. There were many conversations flying around at where Karasu had come from. There were several very farfetched guesses, like one of the second years who said they thought he was Professor Dumbledore's reflection from an evil mirror. Then there was Dennis Creevey's guess, which was uncomfortably close to the truth. He thought that Karasu was a ghost with a body. Kurama wasn't participating in any conversation; he was thinking too hard for that. Now that Karasu definitely knew that Koenma was sending people in to Hogwarts, he would begin making his moves more quickly. Hiei was also not participating, though for a different reason. He had moved away from the group and was exploring the corridors surrounding the hall that the students were in. He found a tapestry with a bowl of fruit that was concealing a passage, and snorted. He couldn't believe that the disguise of the passage was so revealed. Then he remembered that humans couldn't see through magic, and revised his opinions a bit. He teleported into the passageway and was immediately accosted by a small, elf-like being. "What are you doing here?" he asked it. It was obviously some sort of demon, though what kind Hiei was not sure. "We is working, sir! I is a house elf, you is acting as if you sees something else, sir." Hiei was stunned for a moment. These house elves were completely subservient! No self respecting demon, or any magical creature that he had ever met, would ever have subjected to that kind of humiliation. He left abruptly, disgusted. He followed the others' reiki to the Gryffindor tower, and then realized he didn't know the password. It was already past eight o'clock at night; he had things he needed to do. He decided to enter the tower from outside. It would serve as an exercise, seeing as how he hadn't gotten to do any training for the last four days because of packing and last minute supply shopping. He teleported outside of the tower, and started to climb. It wasn't as easy as it had looked from the ground, which suited Hiei just fine. He jumped from window ledge to outcropping of stone, while ancient traps were sprung and reset. One particularly nasty trap that even Hiei hadn't seen in time to duck was a bucket of Mrs. Skower's Magical Mess Remover, which seemed determined to follow him all the way up to his destination, scrubbing his hair vigorously the entire time. He finally made it to the Gryffindor common room window, and tapped it impatiently. He had things to tell the other spirit detectives.

Kurama was the first one to notice a short person standing outside the common room window, and he immediately stood up and opened it. InuYasha looked up from his latest quarrel with Kagome, which seemed to be about which one of them packed Kagome's wand. When InuYasha looked up, Kagome sighed frustratedly and put her hands inside her robe sleeves. She pulled her right hand out to find her wand inside it. She looked surprised, and then a thoughtful look came over her face. Hiei walked inside the room, looking interestingly windswept and slightly damp. Ginny walked over to him, and said, "Have you been flying?" Hiei shook his head silently. He made for the table were InuYasha was at. "The defenses on this place are absolutely horrible. The only one that actually is any good at hiding is ridiculous." Kurama nodded thoughtfully. "So, we have to strengthen the defenses outside, as well as defend inside. Interesting project for next week's full moon," he murmured. Kurama opened his dimensional pocket and took out the Towa no Shirube. It was time for the Towa to live and speak. She appeared in front of him. "Hello, cutie! What are you looking for? Call me To To, everyone does!" she said excitedly.

Yusuke's group had made it to their common room in the dungeons. To everyone's surprise, the teacher waiting there was not Professor Snape, but Sesshoumaru! "I am your new head of house for this year. If you decide to disrespect me, I will not hesitate to break your arm," he said, watching the students' reactions. They were gazing at him with mingled respect, fear, and distrust. He liked that.

Yusuke was following Malfoy. The boy was tapping the walls on every other wall, three times each. Yusuke decided to scare him a bit, so he walked up behind him and poked him in the back. Malfoy jumped and hit his head on the wall; that was the third hit on the wall. It opened up a small passageway, large enough for a thin boy about Malfoy's size to fit through. Malfoy walked into the passage, with a glance at Yusuke. Yusuke was delighted to find out that there was more to this school than classes and gossip, and followed Malfoy through with a grin.

While walking through the tunnel, Yusuke almost ran into several sharp spikes that were protruding from the walls. "Whoa!" he said as he ran into Malfoy, who had suddenly stopped. "Shut up," the pale boy hissed, as he pressed his ear to the wall. Yusuke could hear sounds coming from the other side of the wall. It sounded like there was someone on the other side reading. Malfoy tapped the wall three times with his wand and a door opened to the left of the two boys. Malfoy stepped through and said, "Hello." It was the first thing that Yusuke had heard him say that didn't sound like he was being stuck up. Yusuke walked to the opening and saw Hermione greeting Malfoy. "Hi!" Yusuke said, watching her. Malfoy was conjuring his schoolbooks out of nowhere, along with several pieces of blank parchment and quills with ink. Yusuke sat down on the floor to watch them. "What's going on? I thought you hated people with non-magical parentage? You sure gave me and my friends problems about it," Yusuke said to Malfoy, who shrugged. "I normally don't. Hermione is the reason I don't need tutoring in Charms. She saw me in an empty classroom at the end of last year, practicing the Charms work that we had been given. She helped me, so we made a deal: I'd leave her alone, if she helped me with my Charms." "Well, if all you are going to do is study, I'm going down. If she's here this must be Gryffindor Tower, so the others should be downstairs, am I right?" Yusuke said, and when Draco nodded, he walked out of the room and down the stairs.

When he reached the Gryffindor Common room, he saw Hiei and InuYasha arguing about something. He walked up behind Hiei and said, "Ice cream." Hiei's reaction was comical. He stopped arguing with InuYasha instantly, and you could almost see his ears prick up. "Sweet snow? Where?" he asked, talking faster than usual. "In the kitchens, I'd expect. So, Yusuke, how'd you get here? Would it have anything to do with the passageway from the girls' dorms?" Kurama asked him, not really needing an answer. Hiei disappeared, most likely to go to the kitchens and get some ice cream. "So, what were they arguing about?" Yusuke asked Kurama, watching InuYasha start talking to someone who pointed a lot at his ears. "I believe that Hiei said that the defenses on this castle were ridiculous, and InuYasha asked him why it mattered. Hiei doesn't like explaining himself, so that is why they started shouting at one another," Kurama answered him.

Hiei was traveling toward the kitchens. He met Sesshoumaru coming from what looked like a room, but that disappeared when he looked closer. It wasn't even a magic barrier; he would have been able to see through that. It just disappeared. Sesshoumaru suddenly stopped walking, and sniffed the air. He then took out his whip and within a fraction of a second, had swung it and cut off several strands of Hiei's hair. Hiei stopped moving, and had his sword at Sesshoumaru's throat in the blink of an eye. "Where were you, and why did you attack me?" Hiei asked brusquely, as if he did not have his sword at Sesshoumaru's throat and they were just talking. "It's my business where I've been. I attacked you because you smelled like someone else," Sesshoumaru said, and drew the Tokijin while extracting himself from Hiei's sword point. Hiei did not reply to this; he had lost interest in the interrogation, and had left the hallway. He walked through the painting barrier for the second time that night, and was greeted by a different house elf. "Hello, sir! I's name be's Dobby! I is told that you don't like servile things, so we's decided I is the best to serve you!" it said, and bowed happily. Hiei was rather more impressed by this elf's apparel than the last; apparently this elf like clothes, instead of reviled them. "Sweet snow," Hiei said curtly to Dobby, who looked confused. "Ice cream!" said Hiei exasperatedly, and sat down to wait for his order. He decided to take this opportunity to survey the castle with his Jagan. It opened under his bandana, and glowed. Where Hiei was looking, the best defense was the forest. There was a herd of centaurs, a giant, a werewolf, and a herd of thestrals, as well as other beasts that would be useful in a fight. He changed his view to the inside of the castle, and was immediately drawn to a circular room with many pictures on the walls. Karasu was there, as well as someone that Hiei didn't recognize. They were talking softly, but then the dark one seemed to sense something and raised a concealing barrier. Hiei came back to himself suddenly, and growled angrily. The barrier was strong enough that he needed to completely open up his Jagan to see through it. That meant chancing a student or teacher seeing it.

Dobby the house elf appeared then, bearing a large bowl of chocolate ice cream. "Here you go sir! I hopes you decides to come back!" he said as Hiei was leaving. As Hiei stepped outside, he found Sesshoumaru waiting outside the painting. "You are needed in the dungeons," Sesshoumaru told him, and turned down the hallway toward them. Hiei followed him warily; he still didn't trust the dog demon. They made their way toward the dungeons, when Hiei saw Kurama come running toward them. "There is a demon loose in the dungeons. Yusuke, InuYasha, and Kagome are already there, but they said they wanted you two there," he said, and ran off back the way he came. Hiei flitted there, followed closely by Sesshoumaru.

There most definitely was a demon there; it was not of the sort that one usually found in Human World. It appeared to be a wind demon, like Jin, but was apparently a mercenary. It was wearing its money around its neck like jewelry. Yusuke, InuYasha, and Kagome were doing okay against it, but it was powerful. "Oy, Kurama! Should we kill it, or should we question it, d'ya think?" Yusuke shouted to Kurama. "Answers are more important right now," Kurama replied, and in a sweep of his rose whip, the demon was missing an arm. Hiei warded the room, before stepping forward and pulling his bandana off. There was a sharp intake of breath from Kagome, as his Jagan was revealed. "Naraku sent it. It's a female. She is a wind demon. She's a mercenary. Apparently, Naraku doesn't think much of our skills, because this mercenary was only paid the Makai equivalent of 2,000 yen. She was sent to kill InuYasha, Kagome, and Sesshoumaru. She doesn't think Naraku knows how powerful Kurama, Yusuke, or I am," Hiei said, as a rush of images and thoughts hit him. "Hey, Kurama! I think next week you could find something out on your trip, like does Naraku know who you really are," InuYasha said. It was a good suggestion.

Kurama nodded slowly. He was wondering the same thing. "He's working with Karasu, so I would think that he does," Kurama said, and turned to the female wind demon. "Would you prefer to die now, quickly, or to lose your reputation and be killed slowly by a competing mercenary?" he asked her. She spit on the floor, then said, "I think I'll take a quick death. Don't tell anybody, though. I couldn't stand being thought of as a coward." Sesshoumaru stepped forward and pulled out one of his two swords on his hip. He cut the wind demon's head off, which rolled to the other side of the room.

"Hello," a voice said. Hiei looked up sharply. His barrier should have kept anything, including voices, out of the room. InuYasha's ears pricked up, and he bared his fangs. Sesshoumaru lengthened his claws, and Kagome reached for an arrow. "There is no other ki in the room except ours. His voice is coming through the walls, and my barrier," Hiei said, and blinked. "So, InuYasha. You've made yourself some powerful friends. I doubt even Kanna could beat you three; your souls are too different," the voice continued. "Naraku. Why are you here? You're helping a human; that's not like you," Sesshoumaru said. Suddenly, the room felt different. "He's gone," Hiei stated, and flitted away. Kurama left the room as well, followed closely by Yusuke. Sesshoumaru was left standing alone in the center of the room. "Feh, Naraku, you have sunk to a new low. At least before, the things you sent after my brother and I were part of you. Now you think to kill me with a pay by the hour mercenary? Did you really believe that this would kill me?" Sesshoumaru said, with a glance at the dead demon on the floor. The Hiei mark was quite visible; the cloaking spell had worn off. He turned and walked out of the room and toward his office.

The rest of the group was walking back to Gryffindor Tower when they were accosted by Ginny and Malfoy. Ginny looked out of breath, as if she had been running; Malfoy looked merely disinterested. "Where did you guys go in such a hurry!" she asked frantically. Yusuke laughed. "We had something to take care of. What's wrong with you?" he asked her. InuYasha walked up next to him and unsheathed his claws again. Kurama took out his wand, Hiei put a hand on his sword, and Kagome grabbed her necklace. "There is a toddler in Gryffindor Tower asking to see you. I also think Yusuke and I should be getting back to the Slytherin dungeons," Malfoy said, and walked off. Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei looked at each other and laughed. "Koenma's here after the fight. He's a little late, don't you think?" Hiei asked the others, in a rare humorous moment. InuYasha and Kagome stared at them. "Wait a minute. Is this the same toddler that made us come and help you?" Kagome asked them. Kurama nodded. "InuYasha, don't you think you should go tell your brother?" she said, turning to him. InuYasha shook his head and stared determinedly at the wall. "You make me so mad! SIT!" Kagome yelled at him. He dropped face first into the hard stone floor. "I'll go get him," Kurama said, and walked back the way they came. They others continued their ascent up to Gryffindor, Ginny included.

Kurama, on the other hand, was going after Sesshoumaru. He sniffed the air, following Sesshoumaru's scent. He finally found him going into the potions room, and said, "Koenma is here in Gryffindor Tower. He wants to see all of us. He has already attracted enough attention." Sesshoumaru looked at him appraisingly. Kurama had his wand out. Sesshoumaru finally said, "Fine. I have to get something first." He walked over to a shelf and pulled out a bottle of pop. He drank it in two minutes and followed Kurama out the door. He had a bone to pick with Koenma.


	8. Koenma and Genkai's Friendly Talk

Yusuke and the others were already on their way to Gryffindor Tower. Soon, Kurama and Sesshoumaru caught up to them. "Wonder what the toddler has for us to do? We're already in the middle of a case," Yusuke said, and turned to Kurama. "He probably has some new information for us regarding the case, though we most likely don't need it," Kurama said, answering him. Hiei, who was walking next to him, said, "Hn," and snorted derisively. "Knowing him, he's probably just received information on the mercenary we just killed," Yusuke said, and laughed. "Why do you work for him anyway?" InuYasha asked, coming up next to Yusuke. "Well, I died, Kurama was a thief, and Hiei killed people. They are on parole, this is my job," Yusuke told him, and swiveled around to look at Kagome. "Man, you're quiet! If Keiko were here, she'd have chewed my ears off for talking bad about my boss," he said to her. They reached Gryffindor Tower and the Fat Lady. "Password?" she asked, and looked disapprovingly at Yusuke.

"Um… Anybody know what it is?" Yusuke asked the others, while the Fat Lady looked disapprovingly at him. "Inkheart," Kagome told the Fat Lady, and walked forward to the front of the group. The Fat Lady swung open and allowed her, InuYasha, Kurama, and Hiei to enter. She started to swing shut as Yusuke and Sesshoumaru walked forward. Yusuke looked at her, his glare sending visions of ripped paper and screaming paintings. The Fat Lady's eyes opened very wide, and she swung back open in a hurry. Malfoy followed Sesshoumaru and Yusuke through the port hole, and was greeted by a strange scene. There was a toddler, an old woman, and a crowd of children gathered in the middle of the room.

"Hello Grandma," Yusuke said, walking up next to the short old woman. "Shut up, dimwit," she told him, and turned to look at the toddler. "Remind me again what the point of this trip was! I'm tired of being stared at by children who don't know anything!" she yelled, directing the last at the crowd of Gryffindor students. The crowd dissipated quickly after that. "All right, Koenma, why are you here?" Yusuke asked looking down at the toddler. "Well, I'm not really the one who needs to tell you anything. Genkai decided she needed to see you for more training. I had to tell her where you were, and Botan said I ought to bring her here to talk to you, oh, and there's a mercenary sent to assassinate you, but I'm guessing that's what you were taking care of," Koenma told him, sounding irritated. "If Genkai wants to talk to me, she'll have to take it up with me in Slytherin. Unless you want the teachers watching me closer?" Yusuke asked Genkai. "Oh shut up dimwit, since when do you care if teachers don't like you? Don't answer, it was rhetorical. What are you staring at?" she asked InuYasha and Kagome. "She's like a mean version of Kaede!" InuYasha said in a stage whisper to Kagome. In answer, Kagome sat down on a chair nearby to listen to Genkai chewing Yusuke out for something. InuYasha stood next to her, leaning on the fireplace. Sesshoumaru was watching from near where Kurama and Hiei stood, whispering to the girl who called herself To-to. At that moment, Genkai was berating Koenma for appearing in the school where Apparation wasn't possible. "If anyone suspected anything, they sure have a reason to now!" she was telling him. "What would they suspect? That there are other ways of traveling than Apparation? They mostly already knew that," Koenma said in answer.

Yusuke started walking up the stairs to the girls' dorms, but as he got to the fifth step, the stairs made a loud noise and turned into a slide. He continued walking, not realizing that he wasn't getting anywhere. "Urameshi, what are you waiting for?" Malfoy asked him from the top of the stairs. It wasn't clear how he had gotten up there, but Yusuke figured Hermione had flown him up or something like that. He increased his speed and managed to get enough traction to run the rest of the way up the stairs. He followed Malfoy to the passage opening and slipped through as it was shutting. "Did you think you were getting rid of me that easily, Dimwit?" he heard a voice from behind him say. "Geez! The least you could do is give a guy a little warning before you give him a heart attack!" Yusuke said sarcastically, turning to face her while walking backwards. "Either shut up or say something intelligent, but don't babble nonsense," came the reply from the old woman. Yusuke could hear Malfoy snickering at him from in front of them. "And you! You idiot supremacist, what are you thinking sneaking around in the middle of the night?" Genkai said, rounding on the now outright laughing boy. "Have you gone soft, Grandma? 'Cause there's no way you would care what happens to a jerk like him, you coldhearted hag," Yusuke told her, secretly amused at the thoughts of what she could do to the pale blond boy. They arrived at the common room, sparing Malfoy more grief. Draco honestly didn't know why they were so set on bothering him; he barely remembered seeing Urameshi in Diagon Alley, let alone tormenting him there. He had never even seen the old lady before that night.

Back in the Gryffindor Common Room, all hell was breaking loose, figuratively speaking. When Genkai left, the students lost their fear of watching what was going on. Hiei was having a hard time not just cutting their ears off, but since Koenma was there he managed to restrain himself. It didn't help that Kurama was standing there chatting with Sesshoumaru, (if either could ever be considered "chatting") looking supremely unconcerned. Ginny, in particular, was staring at the toddler ruler in the middle of the room. She thought that he looked a little familiar, but couldn't remember if she had seen him before, or where she might have. InuYasha was staring out the window at the three-quarter moon, which was almost constantly covered by clouds. "Y'know, Kagome, the lake smells strange," he said, looking away from the window to see her concerned look. "You're sure that's not just this Karasu person you're smelling? He has a very strong demonic presence, almost stronger than Naraku," she thought aloud, then coughed self-consciously. She looked away and started trying to remember where she had heard the DADA teacher's name before. Koenma, seeing something unusual in Ginny's eyes, walked toward her and transformed into his teenage form. This sufficiently stunned the watching gaggle of students into silence. "Do you have prophetic dreams often, or just once in a while?" he asked Ginny bluntly. She nodded, and walked away slightly unsteadily. Kurama, seeing that Koenma was free, strode over to him with Sesshoumaru on his heels. Hiei wasn't close behind, staying far enough from the toddler ruler that anyone watching couldn't even tell that he was within earshot of pacifier breath.

"Koenma, we are able to handle ourselves," Kurama said, stating the obvious. Koenma nodded acquiescingly, but he still was looking at Ginny. "She's a Seer," Hiei said from his position far from Koenma. Several of the students, namely Ron, Hermione, and Harry, looked surprised. Kurama turned and walked away from Koenma, toward the three students. "I would have thought you figured that much out on the train, but apparently I overestimated you," he said, sounding disappointed and walking away. Sesshoumaru, however, stayed to talk to Koenma. "Why did you insist I come here?" he asked in an acidic voice. "These demons are nothing. They are no challenge to me, and even less than no challenge to your people." "I sent you because you are the only one I could think of with enough power and no qualms about killing humans. If I'd had Hiei do it, I would have had to arrest him. He is already on parole," Koenma answered, in a soft voice so only someone with demonic ears would have been able to hear him.

"Hn," said Hiei, getting bored. He strode to the entrance to the portrait hole, only to be headed off by Hermione. "Excuse me, but where do you think you are going?" she asked him, sounding annoyed. "Hn. That's none of your business." "Actually, I think it is. I am a prefect; you are breaking the rules. Curfew was a half-hour ago. I'm stretching my limits as it is not to go report you guys to Professor McGonagall. Since Professor Sesshoumaru was with you, I suppose you were excused for that, but now you aren't and you can't go outside," she told him, sounding like a hall monitor. "Get out of my way, dammit!" Hiei said, getting more irritated by the second. In a minute, whether someone saw or not, he was going to teleport out of there. Finally, Hermione seemed to give up on him and left to torment someone else for setting off a firecracker in the Common Room. Hiei opened the portrait hole and exited the room, heading straight for the place where Sesshoumaru had appeared out of nowhere that night.

Yusuke, Genkai, and Malfoy were finally back in the Slytherin Common Room. There were only a few people there, but none of them paid any attention to the three coming in. The long, low room was covered in green and silver draperies, several of which looked to be concealing passageways, though Yusuke wasn't sure. "Hey, Dimwit!" Genkai said, from behind him. "Yeah?" She didn't say anything else, but she attacked him instead. "What was that for!" Yusuke yelled, rubbing his head. "Crazy old hag," he added under his breath. "Stop whining. Didn't you learn anything from Kido, Kaitou, and Yana? How many times have I told you, learn about your enemy before you charge into things!" she snapped at him, hitting him again. Several Slytherin boys, hearing the noise, came from their dorms and started staring at the strange old woman. "Fine! I get it, I'm an idiot. Stop hitting me!" Genkai suddenly stopped whacking him across the head to see the boys staring at them. "What do you think you're looking at?" she said nastily to them, and resumed berating the unfortunate Yusuke.

Hiei, meanwhile, was walking the halls. When he reached the area in which Sesshoumaru had appeared, he spoke. "Open." Nothing happened. "I know there's something there," he said, and started pacing. On his third time past the space, a door appeared, not unlike the one Sesshoumaru came out of. He took off his bandana, quickly scanned to see if anyone was watching, and slipped inside quietly. Inside, he saw a room full of ice cream. Every flavor imaginable was here, from apricot to raspberry. No matter how strange the name, there was at least one pint of it. Hiei's eyes widened slightly, and he licked his lips in anticipation. Then the rational part of his brain kicked in, and he looked at the situation in a new light. Maybe Sesshoumaru had poisoned it. Hiei used the Jagan again, this time to scan for poison. There was none, and no sign of any magical tampering either. He put the bandana back on, and with only a small hesitation flitted to the first pint of chocolate ice cream. He started eating, and finished within three minutes. He then went on to the next one. After this, he stopped for a moment, wondering whether or not to tell the others about the strange room. He decided that he would, but not until he was done with his sweet snow. He briefly spared a thought for Sesshoumaru, speculating on what he had found when he walked into the room. He shrugged, deciding that it didn't matter, and began eating again.

Sesshoumaru decided to leave the Gryffindor Common Room and return to his office in the dungeons. He needed to prepare for class, which unlike what Karasu had said was not going to be on poisons. He was instead going to teach the students how to make several different types of caffeinated drinks using magical means. He was getting rather attached to the pop that his potions book had recipes for. He also had to catch up on sleep. Since he had gotten to Diagon Alley and bought his textbooks, he had been reading and memorizing half of one each night, occasionally borrowing one of the others' books when it was one that he had not bought himself. This added up to many nights with very little sleep. As well, he needed to renew the cloaking spell on his cheek before the morning came. As it was, it showed quite clearly against the paleness of his cheek. It was very noticeable. It was nearing ten thirty at night anyway, and his "job" as Slytherin head of house dictated that he check to make sure none of his students were traipsing around the school.

Koenma still hadn't left Hogwarts. It was risky for him to even be there, because Karasu was in the building and wouldn't hesitate to kill him. His appearance had caused a very great stir, and he thought that it might be necessary to wipe the memories of that night from many of the students in Gryffindor Tower. He was just about to call Botan on the pocket mirror when he saw To-to sitting on one of the tables. "Who are you?" he asked her. "I'm the Towa no Shirube. Call me To-to. You're cute too, you know that?" she replied. She looked as if she were concentrating very hard on something. Apart from the look on her face, her hair was streaming about behind her, similar to if there had been a wind. "Don't you belong to the Hikari's?" he asked her, trying not to disturb her concentration. "I used to, but I helped out Daisuke Niwa and his family kept me. Now I'm here," she answered him. Then her eyes lit up and something appeared in her hands. It was a jewel, or a shadow of one. "That's...the Shikon Jewel!" Koenma exclaimed, and reached for it. However, when he touched it, it dissipated. "It was the image of one. I could only locate it; whoever's got it has put up a very powerful barrier. I couldn't bring it through," she told him, and lost her concentrating look. "So, where's the really cute redhead that owns me? Or even his short friend, he's almost as cute? I suppose that he owns me too, but they're really co-owners. Or something. Anyway, do you need me to find anything for you? That's what I'm here for," she babbled. Then she looked at the clock; it was almost eleven o'clock. She didn't have much time. Kurama walked over from the shadow of the stairs. "So, you weren't successful, I'm guessing?" he asked her. She nodded, and then said, "He definitely has it with him, though. You're going to have a time of it getting that jewel away from him, judging from the strength of the barrier..." she said, and disappeared.

Kurama looked around the common room, and saw several students who had been watching the exchange between Koenma and To-to. He sighed and pulled a seed out of his hair, then thought better of it. They didn't want to cause anymore suspicion by using wand-less magic while they were here. So, he pulled out his rose-wand and said, in a very low-volume voice, "_Cambiar de Idea_." A vine came out of the end of his rose-wand and started to glitter. He repeated the words, which caused the glitter to float off of the vine and settle on top of the heads of the students in the Gryffindor Common Room. Their eyes went oddly blank for a moment, and then intelligence reappeared in their eyes. They continued talking to their friends about that night. The conversations were very different than they had been minutes earlier, however. They were mostly all discussing the strange new headmaster, instead of the toddler that was standing there in teenage form and the girl that disappeared. "Good work, Kurama," Koenma told him, sounding matter-of-fact. Why is it always left up to me to repair damage and clean up messes? Kurama thought to himself in a fit of self pity. He cut off that train of thought in time to hear Koenma say, "I need someone to go get Genkai. We're leaving as soon as I can find her."

Genkai was having fun tormenting Yusuke. The old woman was hitting him on the head every so often, and then he'd get mad and try to hit her. He missed, of course. Malfoy was watching them, wondering what the old woman was trying to prove. He got bored watching them rather fast, so he went down to bed. Being the son of a Death Eater who feared discovery, he was rather paranoid about some things, including sudden changes in power. He checked the bathrooms for signs of tampering, the dormitories for the same, and the only thing he found was a tiny little thing that looked like something Muggles called a "pinhole camera". He crushed it between his fingernails then cleaned up and went to bed, the sounds of Urameshi and Genkai still audible even through the stone walls. In the Slytherin Common Room, Genkai had tired of annoying her successor and decided to lecture him instead. "Alright, what have we learned? One: Yusuke is an idiot who doesn't think things through, and his partners aren't much better. Two: Koenma is also an idiot, thinking that you have the ability to actually attend classes. Three: There is a Seer enrolled in Hogwarts. Four: Hiei's turtle has an obsession with him..." she said, ticking the items off on her fingers. Yusuke interrupted her. "Where did you find that out?" he asked her, which earned him a glare. "Botan told me and Yukina that. By the way, Kuwabara is very mad at you and says you'd better not come back to Japan unless you want pounded," she answered him, sounding bored. She started to leave by way of the real entrance, and then seemed to think better of it. She walked back over to where the secret passage was and opened it. She walked into it and it disappeared. "Evil hag," Yusuke muttered, under his breath so that she couldn't hear it. He then punched the wall in aggravation and then went to bed, not even bothering to change out of his robes. He was asleep as soon as he hit the pillow, and was snoring very loudly.

Hiei was still in the ice cream room, and he was finished with about half of it. He decided to stop eating though, for two reasons: one, he was about to burst, and two, it was almost eleven thirty. He left the room, waiting for it to disappear before leaving the corridor. He was flitting towards Gryffindor Tower, but about halfway there he saw something that piqued his interest. He stopped for a moment, mentally scanning the corridors with his re-warded ((hah! Rewarded, get it? Nah, didn't think so. Oh well)) Jagan. There were several ghosts in congregation outside a classroom nearby; that was what he had stopped for. There were no teachers in the vicinity. As far as Hiei could tell, all of the teachers, with the exception of Sesshoumaru, were sleeping. There were also no students wandering around within earshot, so Hiei decided he was safe enough, relatively. He flitted towards the ghost congregation, making sure to manipulate his energy so that it couldn't be felt.

"There's something weird about the new headmaster," a female ghost said, and several others nodded. "What could incapacitate Albus Dumbledore, anyway?" a ghost wearing a large ruff wondered aloud, and he looked around. A large male ghost wearing a monk's habit shook his head. "We shouldn't judge people just because of circumstance," he said, sighing. Hiei, in the shadows, blinked in the idiocy of that idea. If you don't judge someone because of circumstances you meet them in, how do you stay alive? The sinister looking ghost covered in silvery bloodstains stayed silent for the most part. The only thing he said was, "The ghosts of Hogwarts are here to serve the headmaster, whoever that may be." After this pronouncement, he floated away, leaving the other ghosts speechless. After several minutes of no speaking, Hiei became bored and flitted the rest of the way to Gryffindor Tower, reflecting on what he had seen and heard.

Kurama was in the Gryffindor Common Room, thinking about what To-to had said about the Jewel. So, the barrier was too strong for her to bring the jewel through. They would have to weaken it somehow. "Koenma, Genkai's coming," he said, looking up at the toddler-turned-teenager. At that moment, the feisty old lady came down from the girls' dormitory and strode over to where Koenma and Kurama were standing. "Well, Yusuke is back in his House. I gave him my message; are you done? I want to leave. Yukina is back at the temple, with only Shizuru and Keiko to protect her. Oh, and Kuwabara to, I suppose. Well, are we leaving now or aren't we?" she talked at Koenma. He looked slightly overwhelmed for a moment then straightened his posture a little bit. "We're leaving as soon as Botan arrives," he replied, and took out his pocket mirror. "Botan, we're ready to leave now," he said into it, and the girl appeared outside the window on her oar. "Hello Lord Koenma! Hi Genkai!" she said, as Kurama lifted the slightly open window. She flew in and allowed Koenma and Genkai to sit on the oar, and then flew out the window. They disappeared in a blue bubble, which then disappeared completely.

Almost immediately after the two left, Hiei appeared through the portrait hole. "What do you know about disappearing rooms?" he asked Kurama quietly, walking over to where the fox was standing. Ginny heard him, however, and said, "The only room in Hogwarts that I've heard of that does that is the Room of Requirement. It appears when you need something or you want something really bad." Hiei looked at her appraisingly for a moment, then turned back toward Kurama. The fox had an odd look on his face. "Hiei, how much ice cream did you eat tonight?" he asked, laughing slightly. "The sweet snow at dinner, the sweet snow I got from the house elves before the attack, and half a roomful from the 'Room of Requirement'," he replied. Hiei's eyes had a strange gleam in them; they were almost glowing. "And you haven't had a sugar high yet?" Kurama asked; Hiei shook his head. "Hm... that's different. Normally you'd be either trying to kill the entire school's population or jumping on all the beds by now," Kurama said, trying to look serious but failing. Kagome, seeing the two talking, grabbed InuYasha's ear and pulled him over to them with her. "InuYasha says that the lake smells like Karasu. D'you think that's where their base is?" she asked, letting go of InuYasha's ear. "It's possible. I'm going to be busy next week," Kurama laughed.

Sesshoumaru was already in his office, which looked rather bare. The only things in it were cabinets and a desk with a chair. He opened one of the cabinets, revealing a large amount of potion ingredients. He shut it, then sat down. He took his wand out from his robes, and pointed at his cheek. "Mienaka naru," he enunciated clearly, and the mark slowly vanished, out of sight for the moment. He put his wand away and stood up. There was nothing left for him to do in the office, so he left. On his way to his sleeping room, he walked inside the Slytherin dorms, to check that no one had left. He didn't finish checking them all; before he was halfway done he decided that there was no point in checking anyway. If they were going to leave, they were going to do it whether he knew it or not. He'd find out from a house elf in the morning if a student was out of bed. He left the area and went into his room. He sat down on the bed and lay down on top of the covers. He fell asleep almost instantly.

Sorry people! I didn't mean to take this long updating! I had the chapter done but then the diskette went missing. I just found it lying around near my computer. I'm an idiot sometimes. I'm very sorry about the wait.

Oh, and something I've been missing in this story: the disclaimer.

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or its characters. They belong to Yoshihiro Togashi. I don't own To-To. She belongs to Yukiru Sugisaki. I don't own InuYasha. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. But I REALLY WISH I DID OWN THEM! I'D BE RICH! But I don't, sorry.


	9. Sleepytime

Naraku was in a dark place. He was staring into a mirror held up by a white-haired girl. "Danna… You know something about the three," Naraku hissed. "Yes. The black-haired one, Hiei does not need a mirror to see things. He can put up barriers as strong as mine," she replied in her soft voice. "The red-haired one should be eliminated quickly," Naraku said sharply.

"Why? Are you jealous, Naraku?" another female voice echoed. The speaker stepped out from the shadows in the doorway. She was wearing a kimono and carrying a fan that she repeatedly snapped open and shut. "Kagura! Treacherous wench… Jealous of what?" Naraku asked, smiling. His smile was terrifying.

"Karasu. You want him. The same way you once wanted the lady Kikyo," the woman said, laughing rancorously. "Karasu is in love with the fox. If he loved me, then he would be trying to kill me instead," Naraku told her. She laughed again. "You didn't deny it. What is my next assignment?" she asked, quieting down slightly. "Your assignment? My dear Kagura, you are going to the school and befriending the dark-haired one with three eyes, Hiei. If you can convince him to join us, he would be a great asset. If not…" Naraku's voice trailed off menacingly. Kagura nodded, with an angry look on her face.

"Naraku… You do not know the depth of my hatred of you," Kagura thought as she withdrew a feather from a sleeve of her kimono. She shook it and jumped into the small boat it made. She was nearly gone when she heard Naraku start laughing maniacally. She rolled her eyes as she flew away toward the castle in the distance. She smirked. "This should be interesting," she murmured to herself as she sat and smiled.

♣♣♣♣♣

"This is amusing," a cold sinister voice said, with emphasis on the 's' sounds. "I thought you would think so," a tall man with long, black hair and violet eyes said, with a slight note of disdain. The man's name was Karasu, and he was the new headmaster of Hogwarts. The cold voice spoke again.

"These new students… you know them."

It was not a question, yet Karasu answered anyway, as a way to annoy the cold-voiced speaker. "Yes. The red-head killed me. The short black-haired one is a wielder of the Jagan, the Evil Eye. However, the Slytherin… I did not see him fight, though he won the Tournament. I hear he is S class," Karasu replied. He could very nearly feel the shift in power in the room. Soon, he would hold all the cards. Then, and only then, would the other speaker in the room reveal himself. Just a few more sentences…

"Do you think Junior would be happy to find out that you skipped out on getting judged?" Karasu asked the snakelike voice. With that utterance, the power shifted even more in Karasu's favor. Suddenly, out of the shadows came a person. It was humanoid in shape, at least, though the face made one question that assertion. "So, you finally reveal yourself, Voldemort," Karasu said, smirking openly. "Yes. I am here. What do you want? Other than the fox, I mean," Voldemort asked sarcastically, desperately trying to regain and maintain control of the situation.

"Very amusing. Really, I expected something more majestic of you, Voldemort. Has Fenrir reported back yet? Or Lucius?" Karasu inquired, knowing full well the answers to these questions. The purpose of asking was to annoy the so-called 'Dark Lord'. So far, it was working perfectly.

"Hello, Karasu," a female voice made itself know. "Let me in!" she yelled, and in walked Kagura. "Pathetic defenses. I expected better, Karasu," she smirked.

"You will pay your Dark Lord the respect he deserves," Voldemort said menacingly as she passed him. "My Dark Lord is Naraku. No one else has any hold over me, especially some weakling wizard," she spat at him. Karasu laughed cruelly at the spectacle. "Don't laugh at me!" Voldemort yelled, to no avail. Karasu continued laughing.

Voldemort hated not being in control. However, now he was just that: not in control. Somehow, he had handed his power over to beings that were not even human, much less purebloods!

"Lucius has reported, as you well know. His son is… less than eager… to join our cause. He still holds a pathetic affection for the boy, however. He refuses to kill him. Fenrir has been following young Draco for quite some time to remedy that problem; he is nearly ready to bite the young Master Malfoy," Voldemort said, somewhat reluctantly.

"Interesting. I doubt it would do much good for Greyback to attack the young Malfoy boy. Kurama or Hiei would cut Fenrir's head off long before the curse would become permanent. Or have you forgotten, my dear Tom, that the full moon transforms not only Greyback, but my lovely fox as well?" Karasu said smirking. Voldemort licked his upper lip nervously as Karasu carelessly waved a hand towards the door. It was a clear and effective dismissal of the 'Dark Lord'. Voldemort exited, with a cloak covering his face, enshrouding him in darkness once more.

"Now Kagura… Naraku sent you here for some reason, I assume?" Karasu asked the woman, leaning back in his chair in the office. "Never assume. In this case, though, you're right. I'm to be enrolled in this school in the same year as the Brat-Who-Lived and the Bandit. I need to be put in a naturally unsuspicious House. Much as I hate the choice, I need into Hufflepuff," she said, sighing as she did so. "Done already," Karasu told her, smiling malevolently at her.

"You-you knew?" Kagura asked, her surprise causing her to stammer slightly. "Of course. Being headmaster has its perks, especially of a school with such extensive magical resources," he replied, his self-satisfied smile never leaving his pale face.

Two Hours Later ♣♣♣♣♣♣

Sesshoumaru had been sleeping. About fifteen minutes before, he had been awakened by an infernal noise: someone singing. He say up, looking for the source of the vile sound. It was a house elf, tending the fire. The house elf, feeling eyes upon it, turned around and made a squeaking noise as it stopped singing.

"Eep! M-master! Did I's wakes you?" the diminutive creature asked, its large eyes staring in fright at the imposing dog-demon. "Yes. You did. What should be done about it?" Sesshoumaru mused out loud. The elf looked on the verge of saying something, but seemed to stop itself. It wrung its hands together as it blinked rapidly.

Sesshoumaru was, by nature, quite used to being around slaves. There were certain signs that showed if one was at all uneasy about their master. This elf was exhibiting them all. "Something is not right here, elf. Tell me what has the housekeeping so agitated that they must throw themselves further into work," Sesshoumaru pressed, aware that he did not sound like himself. His lack of cold aloofness was unsettling for him, yet it seemed to put the servant at ease.

"W-well, l-lord, master, sir, Perry sees strange things with Master Karasu. Not like Master Dum-" the elf broke off abruptly. Perry was obviously horrified at something he had just said. Perry picked up the red hot poker from its position in the fire and started hitting himself with it. Inevitably, he started screaming. Sesshoumaru was next to him like a shot, pulling the still-hot poker out of the elf's burnt hands. "But Perry spoke ill of Master Karasu and mentioned previous master! Is forbidden! Must punish!" the distraught elf cried, through the huge tears welling up in his eyes.

"From now on, you are released from Karasu's services. You are the property of the school, so if I free you, you are freed. Now, tell me what Karasu does," Sesshoumaru said, his voice going frosty with impatience. "Karasu is messing with magics ought not messed with!" Perry exclaimed, shaking uncontrollably. "Magics such as what, exactly?" Sesshoumaru questioned the sobbing elf, who cringed in fear at the expression on the demon's face.

"Demon magic, sir," Perry answered fearfully, wanting very much to leave. Sesshoumaru, disgusted by this anticlimactic information, said, "Go back to the kitchens. Inform the rest of the kitchen staff that Karasu is a demon and as such is not bound by wizard law. Explain that this means they are not in his service, only the rest of the staffs'. Once that is done, you may leave the school if you wish. Dismissed." The elf disappeared with a loud 'CRACK'. Sesshoumaru turned away from the fire angrily, and then walked out the door, towards the rest of the dungeons. There was someone he needed to talk with.

♣♣♣♣♣♣

Draco wasn't sleeping either, by then. How could he, when Yusuke was sleeping in the same dorm as him, snoring louder than seemed really possible? Finally, disgusted by the noise, Draco decided to get up and do something about it. He stood, and walked over to the snoring Yusuke and leaned over the boy's bed. He pulled out his wand and muttered, "Sonorous."

"Wake up! Right now, you lazy fool!" Draco shouted, doing his best impression of Genkai's voice. "Go away, you old hag!" Yusuke said, still asleep. "Move your lazy ass, or else!" Draco shouted again, attempting Genkai's voice a second time. This time, though, his voice broke in the middle of the sentence.

"Or what, blondie?" Yusuke was awake now, and he didn't look happy. Apparently, he wasn't a morning person. Draco gulped; this was not going to be as easy as he had originally though. "Or… er… you'll be late for breakfast?" Draco tried, weakly. Yusuke looked unimpressed. 'This is not going well,' Draco thought nervously. Yusuke was still glaring at the blonde boy. Draco decided that backing away slowly was the best course of action, so that's what he did. When he left Yusuke's bedside, he was that most of his dorm room was awake.

"Go back to sleep," Draco commanded. It was a mark of respect that the other boys immediately fell back to their pillows and shut their eyes in their best parodies of sleep. Suddenly, the dorm room door flew open loudly, and Sesshoumaru strode through the door. "Urameshi," the dog demon said, his keen ears picking up the sounds of boys' hearts' beating in fear.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Author's Note:

Alright, my review thank yous: Thank you everyone who reviewed. I wish I could answer you all separately, but I don't have a good enough short term memory for that.

Anyway, I had one review asking me about pairings. The only established ones are Kagome/InuYasha and Keiko/Yusuke. The others are up for debate.

To give y'all some control over this, here are the pairings I'm considering. I want y'all to vote on it in your next reviews. Thank you!

Harry/Draco

Harry/Luna

Ron/Hermione

Hermione/Draco

Ginny/Neville

Kurama/Hiei

Kurama/Yukina

Sesshoumaru/Kagura

These are the only ones I'm considering at the moment. If you have other ideas, put them in your reviews. Oh, and in my story, one sided Karasu/Kurama and one sided Naraku/Karasu.


	10. Kagura and Sesshoumaru?

Author: Hi, I'm back now! Did you miss me? I know it took forever for me to update this story. I had writer's block on this story, and I kept getting hit with one-shot ideas. Slightly long one-shot ideas. So, people, I have discovered one of my writing shortcomings: romances are damn hard. I just can hardly bring myself to put more in than occasional hints of pairings, so you'll have to look hard. The votes came in, but I am going to be mean and not telling you what the winners were. You'll just have to pay attention to the story to find out. Also, I need suggestions for what classes they should have first day. What do you think the schedules should be? I'm thinking of having Slytherin and Gryffindor having all their classes together for the sake of 'wizarding unity'. And when should the first duel in the hallways be, between third and fourth hour or second and first? I need suggestions here, people! Oh, and be sure to check out my Silly Veela Story if you like Harry/Draco creature fics.

Sesshoumaru stopped suddenly, causing Yusuke to bump into him. The black-haired boy looked mad.

"Tell me already! Geez, you make me walk out of bed and I don't even get to know what this is about," Yusuke grumbled under his breath. Sesshoumaru motioned for quiet. Then, quietly, with only a whisper of air, a woman stepped out of the shadows on the walls.

"Sesshoumaru! Good of you to come," she said, in a strong voice.

"Kagura. You have the information I wanted?" Sesshoumaru asked, in a rather colder tone than was actually called for. He flicked a glance at Yusuke, who was looking angrier and more confused by the second. "First, it would probably be worthwhile to introduce yourself," Sesshoumaru suggested, to avert any unnecessary conflict between his allies.

"Right. I like that idea. How about we INFORM someone who is clueless. Makes sense, yeah!" Yusuke muttered, glaring at the strange woman, who was laughing.

"Fine. I'm Kagura. I'm part of Naraku. I hear you're going to try and kill Naraku. More power to you. Sesshy here—" she broke off at the suddenly jubilant expression on Yusuke's face.

"SESSHY!" Yusuke asked, laughing maniacally. "Sesshy? Oh, that's great. That's almost better than the Hiei tattoo!" Yusuke finished, covering his mouth with his hand to stifle the loud guffaws issuing forth.

"Kagura, I told you not to call me that," Sesshoumaru snapped at the woman, who looked slightly put out.

"But Sesshy!" she whined, pushing her lower lip out as far as she could. The pitiable effect of this was lowered expansively, however, by the silent bouts of laughter she was experiencing, her entire body rocking with mirth.

"Now, back to business," Kagura said finally, once everyone had calmed down. "Your information was somewhat… difficult… to get, but you know me, Sesshy! Naraku distrusts my loyalty, but he'd never dream that I'd actually defect, so he tells me things. I know, I know, it sounds really easy, but it's not. Mostly now all he talks about is Karasu! Karasu this, Karasu that, it's rather annoying, actually," she said, getting an exasperated look on her face.

"You're kidding. That vampire wannabe actually has a fan? Too bad for Naraku, though. Karasu is completely obsessed with Kurama," Yusuke laughed, then stopped.

"Do you have anything actually useful, Kagura, or did you just come here to annoy me?" Sesshoumaru asked tiredly, as if he had been through this song-and-dance routine before quite often with the woman. She smiled back at him sweetly.

"Well, I do have good information. Gossip is all well and good, but it's nice to be useful! But… Since you're being so mean to me, Sesshy, I might just leave without telling you," she said, still with her 'sweet' look. Yusuke looked at her, amused. Sesshoumaru, however, kept his face carefully still.

"Kagura, would you be so kind as to bestow upon us the information you have so kindly gathered?" Sesshoumaru asked Kagura in a strained tone. She pouted.

"Fine. Alright then: Dumbles is being held in a cave on the overlap point. I believe this overlap point is the original human Rose Line, but I think he's being held in the far north area of the line. Oh, and if you recruit anyone originally from Hogwarts not like you two, they might be interested to know that Voldemort is being ordered around like a kitchen servant by all involved. Draco Malfoy's father refuses to kill him, and is apparently not going to use force to recruit Draco. It seems a prominent werewolf is following Draco around, so you need to keep Draco under guard, if you want him on your side. And I'm going to be a student! Hey, Sesshy, will that mean we've got to be even more secretive? I mean, student/teacher relationships are frowned upon in school!" Kagura finally finished, staying serious until the end.

"What House are you in?" Yusuke asked, curious. They still needed someone in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"Hufflepuff. I hate dirt! I am the wind! But I get put into the House that loves greenery and gardening!" Kagura ranted, finally throwing the tantrum she'd wanted since she found out about her House assignment. Wind started fanning her hair around her, and she suddenly took out a small feather, threw it, and jumped into its suddenly enlarged pocket in the middle. She flew away, pictures grumbling in her wake from the sudden breeze.

"Is she always like that?" Yusuke asked, yawning slightly. Sesshoumaru nodded tiredly. "By the way, what's an overlap point?" Yusuke added, stifling another yawn with his hand.

"It is the one spot on Earth where the Demon, Human, and Spirit Worlds overlap. I've heard tell that there are disturbances in the order of worlds along it," Sesshoumaru answered. The dog demon turned and left Yusuke standing alone in the hallway.

"Psst!"

Yusuke whirled, already in fighting stance. A much unexpected person stepped out from the shadows. It appeared that Draco Malfoy had decided to just stay awake, instead of going back to sleep for about a half hour.

"What do you want, Blondie?" Yusuke asked warily, wondering how much the thin, pale boy in front of him had actually heard.

"I want to know what is going on? Draco hissed, and then went still. He looked slightly frightened, and then he disappeared. Not only did he become invisible, but his spirit signature and scent disappeared as well. A howl was heard in the distance, causing the hairs on Yusuke's arms to rise.

"Believe me, if you don't tell me, I will find out through other means," Draco's voice rang out from the darkness as his presence faded. Yusuke blinked. This had been a weird morning. He went to look for Malfoy, needing to have him come with him for some sort of explanation.

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(Elsewhere: a.k.a., Gryffindor Tower)

"Aagh!"

Kagome woke with a start. She looked around sleepily for the source of the disturbance, rubbing her eyes.

"Wha—" she started, and then she saw who it was. Ginny was having another of her Seeing nightmares.

"Wake up!" Kagome hissed in the younger girl's ear, frantically shaking the shivering girl's shoulder. Kagome was getting frustrated. She dragged Ginny out of bed and slung the redhead onto her back. She left her room and went down the stairs. She sat Ginny in one of the sofa-like chairs in the Common Room and went to the boys' dorm.

"Kurama… InuYasha… Hiei?" she called tentatively, trying not to wake anyone other than those she called. She heard an answering noise coming from a room to her left, and Kurama walked out, followed closely by Hiei. A second later InuYasha walked out of a room to her right, and they all followed her down to the Common Room.

"Ginny," Kagome whispered as they reached the bottom motioning to the shivering girl on the sofa-chair. Kurama immediately strode over to Ginny, pulling a flower out from his hair as he did so. He held it under Ginny's nose.

Ginny coughed, opening her eyes finally. "What was that?" she asked, holding her nose.

"Corpse flower," Kurama answered, smiling slightly.

"What did you dream this time, Ginny?" small Kagome asked, brushing her hair out with a brush she had kept in her pajama pocket, while looking attentively at Ginny.

"Draco Malfoy… he has something horrible stalking him! That evil Karasu person was torturing someone… I think th-that was you, Kurama… Lots of death… pain… Voldemort screaming… Lots of laughter, but scary laughter!" Ginny babbled, grabbing the armrests of her sofa-chair for support.

Kurama went pale, and left to sit in a chair of his own, facing the fire. Flames reflected off of his fear-wide eyes as he stared into it, thinking. If what Ginny said came to pass, the worlds would all be in trouble.

Hiei, seeing his friend's distress, left Ginny to Kagome's ministrations and followed him.

"I won't let him get close enough to touch me this time," Kurama was muttering, cracking his fingers mercilessly as he spoke. Hiei was shocked at the display of fear; demons did not show fear as a rule, with no exceptions.

"Kurama…?" Hiei started, breaking off at the look his friend gave him. It was vulnerable, very NOT Kurama. Then the fox's face hardened perceptibly and he growled.

"I WILL kill him. He won't touch me, not again; he is going to die! A fast death is too good for that scum… Kill him slowly, and then summon Botan and her assistant to take him away. He can't come back if he's personally escorted," Kurama rambled; his voice a strange meld of human and spirit fox.

"Are you safe to be around the humans today?" Hiei questioned the fox, who licked his lips and nodded slightly. Kurama was losing his self-control, but not to the extent of function impairment. He was looking forward to breakfast, and was anticipating classes in order to keep his human self in even partial control.

CRASH!

Yusuke slammed through the portrait hole, the Fat Lady screaming in his wake. "Evil, foul, horrible, monster!" she shrieked, swinging shut with a loud bang.

"Hey, guys, we have a bit of a problem," Yusuke said, sitting down on one of the chairs. Everyone looked expectantly at him.

"Aren't you even going to ask what the problem is?" Yusuke asked, getting frustrated with their patience and standing up. "This is the problem!" he yelled quietly, pointing at a blank area in the room. Everyone stared at him like he had lost his mind. "Come on, Malfoy," Yusuke said, sounding fed up. Draco Malfoy appeared in the exact spot that Yusuke had pointed at.

"You people owe me some sort of explanation, especially if you want me on your side of things. I heard nearly everything that Urameshi was saying to the new professor, and it didn't make much sense. Other than Greyback following me; I already knew about that. This disappearing ability is useful," Draco said, sitting down on another empty chair and waiting.


End file.
